Reflection in a Pool of Tears
by Rugstar
Summary: Follow the tale of a dying SEED as he recounts his rise to power. His life is tainted as everything he holds dear is taken from him. A story of joy, love, pain, revenge, cruelty, honor and determination. PG for language. The Betrayal is up! R&R PLZ!
1. Remembrance

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything (which I doubt anyone will) at least get my permission first.  
  
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A/N: Hi all. This is my first and probably last fic. I am going to post the first prologue and the first chapter but won't post anymore unless I get some reviews. I don't care whether they are good or bad, I just want to know if anyone is reading it. Also if I do end up posting more don't hold your breath waiting for them. The chapters are quite big and it takes about three times as long for me to make the chapters as it takes you to read them. Don't let this discourage you though, I think it's pretty good. ENJOY   
  
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I stood on ground littered with bodies. My already scarlet blade was shining with the blood of my enemies. My head was pounding and my heart beating fast from the exhilaration of battle. I felt a hot trickle of blood as it ran down my face. Whether it was mine or of those who lay before me, I did not know. I did not care. Not an hour before, there stood an army of nearly three hundred battle trained warriors, and now only one remained. He had seen me butcher and incinerate his commanders and subordinates with merciless eyes, eyes that had grown hard and remorseless through need. He knew that he was going to die, like his comrades had only moments before, and yet he would not back down. Instead he eyed me with the eye of a trained killer. He would wonder briefly why I now stood dead still, my blade held loosely by my side, my eyes open but unseeing, but then he would begin to circle, looking for a weak spot, perhaps an injury I had gained by his allies blade. I had many, though no bodily injury would slow me or blunt my skill in battle. He waded through his ally's blood and tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore the limbs bent at unnatural angles, the open, unseeing eyes of those who had not seen death coming and possibly more disturbing, those who accepted their fate early enough to close them. Yet I would see none of this, none of the carnage I had created. Instead I saw nothing but memories. I saw a green blade, not so much unlike my own, pressed against the neck of a young girl, barely three years old. I saw her call out for her father. I heard nothing. I saw the blade jerk quickly and saw her scream as she fell with her throat slit. I felt the same throbbing pain inside my head that I had felt for seven long years. A pain that nothing could dull or cure. A pain that made the sword that pierced my body then, feel like it was a nick from a training blade. I was brought back to the present to find myself kneeling, a gaping wound that should have killed me instantly, marking my chest. I was not worried. Problems of the body no longer bothered me. I looked up and saw the lone soldier pulling his blade back for a blow that would decapitate me. I murmured a single word: "Stop", and felt as energy obeyed my command. The soldier now stood unmoving.   
  
"I promise you " I began "that by the end of today I will be dead and you, still alive. But I want you to do couple of favors first. I am releasing you now." Again I spoke a single word, this time: Esuna. The soldier immediately sprang back into action, leaping back as though burnt. He eyed me carefully before answering.   
  
"You should be dead," he said finally.   
  
"I don't know if I have enough humanity left in me to kill," I said with a humorless smile. I sat crossed legged in front of him before I continued. I removed three items, the first two, signatures of Balamb Garden leadership, which the great Squall Leonhart had once worn. The last, my sheath, which I replaced my blade into.   
  
"I would ask that you return these to Balamb Garden" I said at last.  
  
"Are you crazy," he said with surprising calmness "do you really expect me to walk to the base of my enemies to return two trinkets and a gunblade."  
  
"By the time you get there no one would dare harm you" I answered.  
  
"I suppose you are going to beat me there to tell them." He retorted.  
  
"I have made a promise to you. The garden will honor that promise." I said. He eyed me skeptically.  
  
"Lets say I do this for you, what will happen to me when I get there" he responded at last.  
  
"When you have delivered all that I give you, you will be set free, with all my wealth" I said immediately. His eyes visually darkened.   
  
"So there is more then?"   
  
"Yes, there is one more thing that I would like you to deliver." I said with caution. I weighed my next words carefully. "I would like you to deliver a story." I said at last. The lone soldier paused a moment, I could tell he was eliminating all but the most immediate questions. I was impressed.   
  
"What will this story be about?" he asked slowly. For the first time in more than seven years, I felt emotion. It was this and not my grievous injury that finally made me gasp in pain.  
  
"It will be about a man who has had everything any man could ask for in a lifetime: fame, fortune, love, family and power and yet still comes to a battlefield with the purpose of dying," I said finally.  
  
"I will listen," he said after a slight pause.  
  
"I am going to put an enchantment of my own design on you, one which will allow you to remember every word and allow me to speak from my very feelings. You will feel each moment as if you were living it. Do you still want to continue?" He answered without hesitation.  
  
"I do". With those words I began an enchantment that would take he and I from the present and down into the very depths of my mind. In a few seconds nothing remained of the present, nothing except for the throbbing pain born of guilt and sorrow. 


	2. First Love

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything at least get my permission first.  
  
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We became a boy of eight who was, and always will be, me. From that moment, we were under vicious assault. I ducked a kick that was aimed directly where my head was mere milliseconds before.   
  
"Ooooo almost." I said with a mocking smile. The other person was a girl of eight whom I had known for a long as I could remember. She had short blonde hair that fell to her shoulders, sparkling blue, mischievous eyes and a face that always seemed to be smiling. I had not met a person yet who didn't smile back every time she looked at them. Her name was Josie. She and I were both orphans, bought by Balamb Garden, the premiere mercenary force in the world. We were best friends and almost inseparable. From the moment we were taught to fight, we had competed against each other. We trained from the moment we woke to the evening bell, which signaled bed for all members below the age of fifteen. As a result we were among the best of the juniors in the garden. As juniors had yet to prove ourselves in hand-to-hand combat and so could not begin training with weapons. The Garden was huge, housing many thousands of people, even the juniors numbered in the hundreds. As a result there were many streamed classes with only the members of the elite class given the opportunity to become trainees. Josie and I were part of that class, and in truth we were among the best. But this didn't matter to us. The only thing that ever mattered was beating the other. Throughout all the spars that we ever had, not once had one of us come out a winner. Seeing that I was somewhat bemused Josie attacked again. She threw two quick punches, one to either side of my head followed quickly by a third that would have broke my nose. I took a single step backwards, and turned my duck into a sweep that Josie leapt to avoid. Immediately I rolled out of the way. She landed where my head had been moments before. I regained my feet and we both took stance with childish grins on our faces.   
  
"My turn!" I yelled as a hero's catch phrase and leapt at her. My single wild punch missed by miles but I kept my momentum and followed up with a series quick kicks. Josie backed up and took stance. Again I rushed her and again she backed up and took stance. She was only a metre or so from the wall and sensing a victory I once again attacked. Patience was never a virtue of mine. I swung a quick roundhouse kick at her head but she deftly ducked. I used my turning momentum and followed through with a sweep, which again Josie avoided. Again I used the momentum of the spin and thrust my fist upward in an uppercut. This time I was rewarded with the touch of flesh. Immediately I saw my mistake. I watched, as if in slow motion, Josie had turned much too far in the air. I watched open-mouthed as she planted her hands on the ground and, in a backward cartwheel motion, flipped over and planted her feet on the wall. Only instinct and reflexes lent me the speed to pull my hands up in front of my face as she kicked off the wall and smashed her feet into my forearms. With an amazing display of agility she flipped back onto her feet. She had a grin from ear to ear. Even though my forearms were stinging I forced myself to grin back.   
  
"Nice move," I admitted "but I saw it coming a mile away." Josie just laughed. We took our stances once again but before we could begin, the breakfast bell sounded. Josie yelped and leapt off towards the showers with me close on her heels. The breakfast staff always made us breakfast hours before everyone else so the bell was our signal to begin the race to the showers. It was no coincidence that we finished a draw.  
  
As this was the last day before the trials that would determine whether we were ready to advance, class was brief and relatively uninformative. Our teacher, the master of martial arts at Garden, was showing us one last time about the finer points of tactical fighting that we would be expected to show on our trial the next day in order to graduate to trainee. Having integrated these techniques into our fighting style weeks ago, Josie and I decided that flicking pieces of paper at each other was lots more interesting. This was typical behavior which earned us several angry glances from the master, or 'Gramps' as Josie had nicknamed him, but it wasn't until one of my wads missed and hit Joseph, the eldest and most experienced student, in the ear that we stopped. Joseph was sixteen and had narrowly missed out on passing last year. He was, understandably, bitter. Joe immediately stood up and spoke to Gramps.   
  
"Why do we have to put up with this, sir," he said in poorly controlled tones.  
  
"Sit down. Think of it an incentive to pass the trial. You will move on and leave him behind," the master said with tact. "Nah-uh," said Josie standing up in protest "we're both passing this year, Meanie!" she said the last to Joe.   
  
"Perhaps when you get old enough to get some, you can put some money on that." Joe said with a smirk.  
  
"We have money!" Josie shouted indignity.  
  
"You do?" said Gramps "where from?" Josie blushed.  
  
"We ummmm got it from a full member." she said in excuse. In truth, we had won almost 500 gil from arrogant fools like Joe. Needless to say, we always got good odds. The master frowned but said no more.   
  
"OK then, put your money where your awfully little mouth is." Joe said, clearly looking as though he had won a point.  
  
"I will put my ha..." Josie started.  
  
"Ok." I said cutting her off. Josie turned and gave me a roguish smile. Joe laughed and sat to write an agreement for the bet, which all three of us signed. When any others in the class put there bets in the odds were announced. Josie's eyes lit up when we were given 5 to 1 odds. Not once did we consider that we might lose. We never did.  
  
As always we were advised at the end of the lesson not to train until after the trial and as always Josie and I ignored the warning. We justified it to ourselves by saying it was a warm up. By the time the trials came around both Josie and I were nervous, though we would never admit it to each other. Our class was told to line up in single file from eldest to youngest, as per tradition. That meant Joe was first up. It also meant I was dead last with Josie right in front of me. There were fourteen other people left in line. Joe was called through the door that we were lined up in front of and so the wait began. Although there was usually about half an hour before the next person was called, each trial seemed to take hours. No one spoke though out the time. Several times conversation was started but seemed to fade away in mid-sentence. I smiled as I watched Josie try to stop her hand from shaking first by putting in on a table and then by wringing it with her other hand. I tapped her on the shoulder to show her my own trembling hand. She started to smile but didn't finish. Painstaking hours crept by until, finally, it was Josie's turn. She turned and winked at me before she went through the door but her face was pale. Fifteen minutes later my own name was called and the door opened. Josie had spent the shortest time in the room. I hoped that this was a good thing. I walked into a huge room lined with nothing except white walls. The roof was high and the floor was made out of a strange substance that was soft yet stable. In the center of the room stood the master, bare chested and sporting several bruises and a bloody nose. I had heard rumours that he often let himself be hit to determine the strength of the juniors. We took stance. I had no doubt that despite his hair was turning grey he was a fighter of tremendous skill. We stood there for several minutes watching each other's form and composure. Suddenly he lunged at me. He swung his fist low and hard in a punch that would have winded me. I easily spun away. He attacked again with a slow roundhouse, which I ducked. There was something wrong. Again he lunged out and I leapt back. He was a lot slower than I had expected. I attacked back and we began in earnest. A block met each punch that was thrown and neither of us could hold an advantage. His style had too many faults I realized at once. A few moments later I realized he must be trying to lure me into a rash attack or opening in defense before he would show off his real speed and strength. This must be the tactical fighting part of the trial. We fought for a few more minutes before I allowed an opening in my defense. He was on it like lightning. He swung a punch faster than I would have thought possible. Too bad for him that I was expecting it. I spun in unorthodox fashion, not away, but towards him, using my momentum to drive my elbow into his back. He had underestimated me and I was rewarded by a curse and stumble. I immediately turned and prepared to continue my attack but the master had already regained his footing and was counter attacking. He attacked so furiously that I barely kept up. Each of his attacks met nothing but stout defense but I knew it could not last forever. Back and back he pushed me until I was a mere metre or so from the wall. Then he threw a punch that would have knocked me unconscious. I made my decision in a split second. I threw my weight backwards and was helped along by a less than friendly knock on the chin. I planted my hands on the floor in a cartwheel position and let momentum carry me to the wall. I then kicked off with all the force I could muster, as I had seen Josie do once before. Gramps had seen his mistake quickly and had long before stepped away. I regain my footing and then my stance. I wondered how he knew what was coming before I realized that Josie must have given him his bloodied nose with the same move. I smiled at the thought. As I prepared myself for another attack, the master signaled me to stop.   
  
"Take the left door" he said pointing to the left-most of a couple of doors that I hadn't noticed before. He exited to the right. The entire ordeal had felt quick but I found that I was exhausted. Feeling out of place in the giant trial room I quickly made my way to the left door. I opened it and stepped through.   
  
The sight inside made me gasp with delight. Almost as big as the trial room itself, this room had every type of weapon imaginable lining the wall. With all the restraint of a kid in a candy shop I all but ran to the first shelf. I drew the first weapon from its holder and began to test it. It was a short sword, which was often used with another of the like. It took a few swings before I knew it wasn't for me and moved on. All my fatigue left me as I took the better part of ten minutes to sample all of the weapons and narrow it down to three. The first was a rapier, difficult to master but potentially deadly in the hands of and expert. The second were katars, usually the choice of assassins and other close combat experts. The last, a bronze-tipped staff, a brilliant focus for mages but also, could be deadly in the right hands. After a short deliberation, I decided on the rapier. I took one last look at the room before heading towards the exit. I was just about there when I notice a weapon that I had not seen on my first inspection. It hung on a very small rack of three and the other two spots were empty. I picked it up to find a blade that was merged to a gun handle. The angle of the handle made it strangely adaptable and despite being young, I could tell that a person might use this weapon for a lifetime without ever truly mastering it. I smiled. The rapier had long before found its way to the ground. I wrapped the gunblade's sheath around my waist and strode out of the room.  
  
I walked through the door to a flurry of action. Before I knew it, slim arms were wrapped around my neck squeezed me tightly.   
  
"We did it, we did it, we did it!" Josie was shouting in a singsong voice. She let go and proceeded to dance around in a tight circle still singing the same three words over and over. I laughed and could not help but join in. Before long we had a dance routine to go with the song and were practically bouncing off the walls with joy.   
  
"This is the pride of Balamb Garden?" a gruff voice said. It was Joe. He had been hiding in a shadowed corner, all but forgotten by Josie. We immediately stopped our dance to stand in front of him, arms outstretched and sly grins on our faces.   
  
"OK ok," he said, "I'll give you your money. Just gimmie a couple of days." Not even he could restrain a smile at the joyous grin Josie gave him. I could not help but notice the rapier that hung at his side. I spun around to Josie and drew my blade. Josie smiled even wider and retrieved a blade that was exactly identical to my own from the corner of the room. I smiled back which caused Josie to giggle. I responded likewise, and before long we were in fits of laughter on the floor. For eight-year-old children who were members of an elite mercenary force that required quick maturity, this was as good as it gets.  
  
Although we were given the traditional two months of rest time, neither Josie nor I could resist the urge to try out our new weapons the very next day. We kept up the routine of training throughout the morning and afternoon, with any other fun being fit into the middle. We started slowly at first, choosing to move in slow steady motions to find our form and style, but by the end of the two months we were beginning to pick up the pace. Quickly each of us began to form our own distinct style and technique that best complimented our strengths. Finally the two months break was up and we were brought back to all new challenges. Instead of just one class, we had a list of many. We had to pass each of these classes before we could compete for the right to become a full member of SEED. We were told that each year a tournament takes place that trainees that have completed all classes might compete. The winner becomes the next member of SEED. Josie and I were glad to hear that due to the fact that we had chosen an unusual weapon, we would have no teacher for weapons training, but instead would be teaching ourselves. This meant more training time. Our other classes were tactical warfare, stealth and combat magic. Josie and I were all of a sudden thrust into an adult's view of battle. No longer could our skill at combat compensate for our age. Although we were both bright for our ages, we were not ready for the mental challenges of our new subjects. We continued to train each day but it was not until three years later that we were truly ready for the trials of our additional classes. By the end of this three year period we were among the best trainee's combat-wise, adept at all magic's and skilled assassins but still had not passed tactical warfare. As eleven-year-olds we were at the age where we had begun to mature in mind and body but if we failed this year, we would have to wait another two years before we were able to compete for a full membership. And so we did something we had never done before. We crammed. We began with the basics and worked our way up until we had all but covered the entire year's work. We had worked all night and violated curfew but at last we had a chance of passing.  
  
I awoke the next morning, tired and with a vague headache, but ready. Although I had woken up before most, I had still slept in. I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed a uniform and dressed as hastily as I could before leaving my room to meet with Josie. She was, of course, already there.   
  
"You're late." she said with a smile.  
  
"I can't have been too late." I answered, noticing her slightly bloodshot eyes. This did nothing to detract from the beauty that had all but grown over the years. Her body was thin and lightly muscled but concealed a wry strength that we both possessed. Not old enough yet to fully appreciate my situation, I none the less noticed hints of the women that she would someday become.   
  
"Shall we begin," I asked drawing my blade.  
  
"I think we should probably skip today," she responded with the severity of missing her best friends birthday "if I get anymore tired I think I might fall asleep on the desk."  
  
"Fair enough," I said, slightly dejected. Instead we spent the last hour or so formulating strategic defenses and counter-attacks for a dozen situations. Two bells later and it was finally time. Nervous and anxious we strode into the class and received our trials. The class was separated into different rooms before we were allowed to begin. I read the brief of my situation. I was commanding an army that was stuck in a seemingly hopeless position. Out manned and outgunned it did however possess an interesting field position. My task was to advise for the best possible course of action. The land offered a multitude of actions but after a hurried review of available forces, enemy position and mobility only two options were valid. The first was to take cover in a nearby forest. After pages of calculations, reviews and taking all reasonable circumstances into consideration, I found that at least a third of my remaining forces would be able to retreat and live to fight another day. Not satisfied, I began work on the second possibility. Also near to my forces was a mountain that would be a sure advantage for my superior gunners. However standing in between my forces and the mountain was an enemy party of infantry. This force, however, did not include any chocobo riders or gunners of their own. Furiously I began work on how this group might be managed. I found with dismay that if this force were attacked then the survivors would not be sufficient enough to hold back an assault on the mountain. Ready to give up and stick with my first answer, I gave the land formation one last review. That's when I saw it. A mere two hundred metres from my own forces stood a rock formation perfect for an ambush. Although it was not big enough advantage to hold back the inevitable might of the united enemy army, it none the less could certainly handle an enemy party barring the way to a particular mountain. Again I worked calculations and formations until I was convinced that not only would it work, but also my forces might actually be able to repel enemy forces from the mountain. I grinned from ear to ear as I specified my answer then clarified tactical formations and relevant calculations. I did a final review of my answer before all but skipping to the door. This all took three hours. I was not at all surprised when I saw Josie open the door to her room before I had closed mine. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up, which I replied with a wink. We handed in our papers before heading back to the training room.   
  
One week later we were told that we had both passed and that we may be participating in the tournament in the next year. We were to report to the main hall for a sign up and briefing. It wasn't until we got there that we realized the sheer number of people that would be competing. The hall was filled with young and old, short (though none as short as us) and tall. We had only just made it on time and it wasn't long before everyone's attention was called to the stage. Josie and I darted through gaps in between people and managed to get close enough to make out the two people who were on the stage. The first I had never seen before, yet I knew exactly who he was. He wore a long grey robe and was perfectly rigid. He was an ancient man with short grey hair and a tall wizard hat. All this meant nothing, for the energy that flowed from him was nothing short of tremendous. He had an aura of pure power radiating from him. Remembering how I had scoffed as my combat magic teacher told us that a water spell could blast through thickly plated steel, I had no doubt that this man could do just this. He was a member of the Council Of Seven, which was by far the greatest authority at Balamb Garden. The council controlled everything, from the protection of the students to the cafeteria menu. The second person on stage, looking quite proud of himself, was Joseph. He had surprised everyone by winning the tournament this year and was now a full member of SEED. Shouting above the voices of hundreds of bodies he fulfilled his small part in tradition.   
  
"I, as the newest member of SEED, would like to welcome you all here today for the sign up for next year's tournament," he said in a practiced tone "next year one of you will be taking my spot here today. But for now, I would like to welcome Illion who will brief you on the coming contest." Applauded off the stage, he somehow managed to spot Josie and I in the crowd and filed through the press of bodies to meet us. Illion wasted no time asking for attention but rather cast a few silence spells into the crowd effectively quieting the worst offenders. The message got around quickly.   
  
"Everyone form a single line in front of the stage." he said. Briefly I admired the way he could command everyone so easily with a single sentence before moving into the line.   
  
"I will be moving down the line, one by one, to determine which of you will be entered in the tournament." Josie and I frowned at this. We waited for more information but none was coming.   
  
"We weren't told about this." I said.   
  
"What, did you think they were going to enter all these people into a tournament that only goes for a couple of days?" said a forgotten Joe.   
  
"So how does he know who the best fighters are unless he see them fight?" asked Josie.  
  
"That's the thing," Joe replied with an air of self-importance that made me laugh "it's not always the strongest fighters that get in." He obviously knew more but wouldn't say unless we asked him. Curiosity fought with my urge to ignore him from now on. Curiosity won.   
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.  
  
"Well take that guy over there," he replied pointing to a guy not far from us in the line. "He's by far a better fighter than anyone else, even me, but for years Illion has not let him enter." I watched the guy that Joe had pointed out. Even though the rest of the line was packed, everyone gave him a wide berth. In truth everyone near him looked terrified. "Yeah, he's a delinquent," said Joe, following my thoughts. "In fact if they let him in this year there ought to be a very interesting set of finals." Again he put on a smug smile waiting for the inevitable question. Josie beat me to it.  
  
"Keep talking, you jerk." She said with a frown.  
  
"Look at him a bit harder." He said with an even smugger smile. Again I looked at him, this time studying him carefully. He wore a black overcoat that went all the way down to his ankles. Under this he wore a grey shirt and long black pants. Around his neck hung a silver chain and his hair was the purest of whites, clashing horribly with his clothes. He was the only one in the room besides Illion that was out of uniform. His face was hard and his eyes were grey and lifeless. I was still confused until I heard Josie gasp. Again I studied him looking for something out of the ordinary. Then I saw it. Although his coat hid his weapon it didn't hide his sheath. The sheath was the same as mine, which meant that so was his weapon. I let out a low whistle.   
  
"Yep imagine that. If you are both as good as everyone seems to think, then we might have the only three gunblade users in the entire garden in the finals. Anyway I gotta go, you know, official SEED business." With this he walked away.  
  
"I can't wait until one of us gets in and wipes that smug smile of his face." I said staring after him.  
  
"That guy gives me the chills" Josie said, still looking at our fellow gunblade user.  
  
"Never mind, whether he's in or not we'll still beat him." I said with a confident grin.  
  
"I sure hope so." Josie said, unconvinced. Illion interrupted our conversation.  
  
"Turn around please, my dear" he said with a light tap on Josie's shoulder. She had the good grace to blush slightly and turned to face him. He placed his hands a few centimetres from her ears and mumbled a few words. He frowned slightly before saying,   
  
"Yes, you shall compete." Without another word he took a step and began the same process to me. Again he frowned, this time deeper, but he still gave the same answer.   
  
"You also will fight." Without another word he moved to the next person.   
  
"Well, that's it then, lets get going." I said, eager to get back to training.  
  
"Wait a moment," she replied. I followed her gaze and saw her watching Illion who was now several people behind us. A few minutes later I found out what it was that Josie wanted to see. Illion had made it to the teen with white hair and black clothes. On impulse I asked a woman nearby what his name was.   
  
"Leon" she replied. I turned to see him talking to Illion with obvious contempt. Without raising his hands to Leon's head, Illion nodded ever so slightly before moving on. A triumphant grin that sent shivers down my spine spread over the teen's face as he stormed off. I heard Josie mutter a word that she must have learnt from the older men in our classes. Without another word we walked from the room.   
  
With no more classes to attend, Josie and I focused on training for the upcoming event. We expanded our usual training rules to include magic as the tournament also allowed it. Never being the best students of the arts we none-the-less could do all the elemental, guard and some status magics with ease. Our mental reserves were also quite large allowing us to do a few more powerful spells or many not so powerful spells. We began to work on expanding our mental prowess. One of us would cast a protect while the other tried to break it. One would cast a shell and the other would blast it with spells. By the time the tournament came around we were confident that our spells were the best in the trainee class. In this time, our mental capabilities had grown which was not all to do with the training. We had matured, time doing what any amount of training could not accomplish. So it was that the morning before the biggest moment in our lives, we were training once again. We had eaten breakfast and were preparing for what would be our last training session.   
  
"How 'bout we do our best today." Josie said suddenly. I stared blankly at her.  
  
"Oh come on, you're better than you show in training and so am I." She said with a smile.   
  
"OK then, but I don't know if you'll be able to keep up," I said with a grin.   
  
"Only one way to find out," she said, laughing. And so we drew our blades. We took stance and began to circle each other. We circled left. I focused on her eyes, eyes that I knew better than my own. All other thoughts drifted away until the only thing left was the presence of Josie and I. Still I watched her eyes. A slight twitch signaled her attack. She thrusted and I dropped my blade to knock hers aside. As soon as my blade had knocked her's off course I reversed its direction and swung for the opening under her arm. She spun with incredible agility and speed I had not seen before and knocked my blade away. I grinned. Looks like she can keep up after all, I thought. We took stance again and again my thoughts knew only the blue of her eyes. I remember my stealth teacher saying that a beauty was one of the most dangerous weapons in an assassin. This second of wayward thought cost me. I felt the air around me surge and watched as Josie drew energies needed for a fire spell. Quickly I opened my mental reserves and pulled out enough for a shell. Our cries were simultaneous as we cast our spells. Josie's spell was weaker than I expected but this was explained as she quickly recovered and lunged again. A slight manipulation of the energy I held around me turned my shell into a protect. Josie's blade clashed with my spell and she immediately began to hammer away at my guard. Not wanting to use to up too much of my mental reserves I quickly disengaged the spell and spun away. Using speed and strength that I had held back to this day, I used my momentum and lashed out. Surprised, but more than equal to the task Josie parried. I let loose a quick swing of my blade to either side of her head (both were easily blocked) before slashing furiously at her chest. Once again showing amazing agility, Josie back-flipped under my blade. Before I could press my attack, she leapt forward with a thrust. I again attempted to knock her blade aside. Before our blades clashed she changed the direction of hers. Using her wrist, she spun it up and over mine. Finding myself over extended and dangerously open, I quickly drew energy and shouted "Fire!" Josie was forced to back off. We again took stance and I took in everything I could. We were both panting and sweating from sudden exertion. Josie's body was glistening, which again gave me a familiar fluttering in my stomach. With more effort than before I again focused on her eyes. We again began circling. I waited for the moment that Josie's gaze wandered for the slightest of moments before I attacked. With a flurry of slashes, I forced her back, making sure that her every effort was concentrating on defending herself. Noticing that she was beginning to regain her composure I surged forward again. I noted that Josie took the increased speed easily yet refused to speed up herself. Back and back I pushed her. Our blades made the air ring and I wondered if I would exhaust myself before she would make a mistake. As if summoned by my thoughts, one foot clipped the other as she was backing up and with a sharp intake of breath she fell backwards. Dropping my blade in mid-swing I grabbed her arm, and yanked her back up. The result was both our gunblades crashing to the floor and Josie's face a few inches from mine. Again we looked into each other's eyes, only this time with a completely different purpose. We stood there for what seem like hours.   
  
"Looks like your right, I can't keep up," she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. I couldn't find the words to answer so instead I just smiled. She smiled back. My heart leapt and before I knew it she was kissing me. Unconsciously I wrapped my arm around her waist and returned the favour. We parted and I at last found some words for the occasion.   
  
"You know I love you right?" I said, my voice only just above a whisper.   
  
"Yeah, I know." She said, before winking and walking off towards the showers. This was a moment that would haunt me for the rest of my life.  
  
We spent the rest of the day not worrying about training, but having fun. Normal, everyday, twelve-year-old fun and for a while I was able to forget that the next day could be the turning point in my life. Much faster than I would have liked, the evening bell rang and we were forced back to our own dorms. I laid down and immediately started thinking about that morning. Filtering through the facts I came to one important issue. I had beat Josie but only because she had wanted to be beaten. I found I hard to believe that she would try to trick me but I found it more unbelievable that after her displays of agility she would simply trip over her feet. After a few more moments I realized that she was probably holding a lot back even though she said that she would do her best. I also realized that I couldn't be mad because I was doing the same thing. My thoughts moved to the moments that had followed. I couldn't stop the smile that crossed my face as I remembered the touch of her lips on mine. Just the thought made my lips tingle and my face flush. It was a nice feeling, I admitted to myself. Not as good as fighting her, but nice all the same. We would fight soon, Josie and I. We would fight and at last we will not stop until one of us won. I smiled at the prospect. My last thought was of how 'nice' the feeling would be when I finally beat her.  
  
I awoke the next morning and in a manner of habit, pulled on the nearest uniform followed by my sheath. With a pang of nerves I remembered what day it was and instead of my normal course to the training room I took off to assemble in front of the garden. I got there with only five minutes to spare, but apart from Josie (who had beat me there) and myself there were only thirteen others.   
  
"What's going on?" I whispered to Josie.  
  
"From what I heard, this is it. Everyone else is petrified of that Leon guy." She answered.  
  
"What! There is supposed to be ten times this number. Surely he can't have scared them all off." I said a little too loudly.  
  
"It's not that, it's just that they know they can't beat him, so really they would just be wasting their time competing." Said a woman with brown hair that I had never met before. Our talk was immediately cut off by the entrance of Leon followed only seconds later by Illion. If either felt any surprise that only sixteen people were here to contest for full membership, they hid it well. Moments later a SEED vehicle, that would best be described as a long van, pulled up. Illion motioned for us to get in the back. There were no windows and we drove with no idea at all of where we were going. Although it was a long trip, not a word was spoken. Every moment that passed I felt the nerves inside me grow. I looked around the back of the van and found that everyone was looking a bit pale. Everyone except Leon, who was instead staring into space with a slight smile on his face. After what felt like hours, the van finally stopped. We filed out and took in the sight that was presented to us. If I was nervous before, I nearly fainted now. In front of us stood a stadium. It looked big enough to seat five hundred people but as it was, there were only about three hundred in attendance. All wore the uniform of a full member. My mind reeled as I realized that if there were this many not on dispatch, there would be ten times that amount that are. The arena floor was covered with what looked like sand with no small amount of rocks spread through. I was brought back to the task at hand by Illion, who motioned for us to move into an entrance in the wall. I caught a glimpse of Josie, whose face was now turning a faint shade of green. I imagined that mine wouldn't look too different. We were led to a small room where Illion proceeded to unroll a piece of paper. Written on it was the draw for the tournament. I saw with horror that I was in the first fight. Josie was in the fourth fight and Leon in the last. On another inspection I found that the earliest Josie and I would have to fight was in the semi-finals and neither of us would have to fight Leon until the very last duel. I turned my attention away from the draw to listen to Illion who was reciting the laws for the tournament.   
  
"As always there are very little rules in this event but they are to be followed to the word," he began "Magic will be allowed as will all weapons. A fight will continue until one person surrenders, is unconscious or has drawn first blood. Needless to say, you are not out to kill your opponent. Should this happen the offender will be put under a full council trial to determine the cause of the tragedy. The fight will be signaled over when a whistle sounds. Are there any questions?" his tone said quite clearly that he was expecting none, "Good luck to you all." With this he walked from the room. From the shadows, Joe took his place.   
  
"OK first two fighters with me, the rest of you take that staircase. It will take you to front row seats in the stands." Without a moment to spare he grabbed my sleeve along with the sleeve of a lithe looking man of about twenty.   
  
As he ushered us through a doorway he said as an afterthought "Oh by the way, before you begin you must bow first to the council and then to each other." A second later I heard the sound of hundreds of people clapping and cheering. Looking around I saw that there seemed to be a lot more people than I first thought. I was terrified. Forcing my legs to move I took my first trembling step towards the center of the arena. With visible effort I managed to block out everything around me and focus on our battlefield. It was a flat arena that's only physical feature was two white circles that we would stand on to begin our duel. I focused on the rock crunching underneath my shoes and I knew I would need to watch my footwork. At last my opponent and I reached the center of the arena. We each took a circle. Remembering Joe's last words he and I turned almost in unison to where the council was seated and took a deep bow. As did this I wondered if it was possible for a person's heart to beat so hard that it would burst out of his chest. I turned and repeated the bow to my opponent.   
  
A loud voice said, "Begin!" and immediately my nerves fled away. I drew my gunblade and focused on my opponent. He had drawn a rapier. My stance changed accordingly and I looked into his eyes, as he looked into mine. We circled, all the while closing the gap between us. Watching the way he moved, I knew that he was able to wield the sword he carried with sufficient speed. I compensated by drawing enough energy that would allow me to cast a quick protect spell. We closed the gap to within a metre. He lunged at me. I riposted and he began a flurry of quick slashes, which I again parried. His strokes began to slowly move higher and lower on my body, trying to open my guard and expose my mid-section. A slash of my own blade made him back up. He held his blade in front of him, point out to avoid a rush. I was suddenly struck by inspiration. With a quick intake of breath I began to draw the energies I needed. The young fencer did like-wise preparing him self for a shell.   
  
Instead of a conventional elemental spell, I shouted "Protect!" Blue energy responded to my call and I summoned a barrier strong enough to turn aside steel. I leapt at him. Surprised by this unconventional attack, he none-the-less thrusted with a blow that would have skewered me. Instead it hit my spell and was knocked aside. Now inside his guard I flicked my blade and nicked the skin of his arm. It was barely a graze but I had drawn first blood. I heard a whistle sound and pure elation filled me. I suddenly became aware that the crowd was cheering. My mind reeled at the fact that I had just made it to the next round. Confidence surged as I realized that the ordeal had lasted a little over five minutes. My opponent and I bowed once more to the council and once more to each other before walking from the arena. Once in the privacy of the room, which we had only just left, I offered him my hand. He smiled and shook it.   
  
"Nice move, I would have never expected it in a million years." He said.  
  
"Neither would I, I just thought of it on the spot." I said laughing. Joe cut off further discussion as he sprung from the shadows to show us to the showers.   
  
Ten minutes later I made my own way up the stairs. Immediately two blue eyes sprang up in front of my face. Josie all but grabbed my head and kissed me. Before I could act or speak she was recounting how I had won, and how stunned the other contestants had looked. Only stopping to take a breath, she then started recounting what had happened in the current fight. From what I gathered from her excited gibberish, there was a fighter/mage dueling the woman with brown hair that had spoke to me earlier. The mage was winning. The winner of this duel would be my next opponent so I sat down to watch the fight. Unfortunately I didn't get much of it. The mage used a water spell to stun the woman before a quick jab of his staff split her lip. The whistle sounded. Slightly disappointed that I had missed the rest, I turned to Josie who looked as though she was going to start bouncing off the walls.   
  
"Don't worry," I told her "you won't be nearly as nervous when you get out there." She looked dubious but I managed to get her to sit and watch the next duel. Two men strode out to the centre of the arena. The first was a huge man that looked to be in his early thirties. Strapped to his waist was a great sword so big that I would have found it hard to pick up. The second was only a few years younger, but had a much lighter broadsword, one of the most popular weapons at garden.   
  
"My money's on the broadsword" I said to Josie.   
  
"That other guy's got muscle on his muscle, I say the great sword." she responded sportily. It was only a few moments into the duel that I realized I was wrong. I saw that the older man could use his sword just as fast as the other could use his broadsword. I was saved the embarrassment of having to admit it though as Joe, who was to take Josie down the stairs, tapped her on the shoulder. Now starting to look sick, she turned to me and tried to give a smile. I gave her a thumbs up and she was gone. A few moments later I cheered with the rest of the crowd as the great sword edged to the other man's throat. The whistle punctuated his honorable surrender. Now starting to get butterfly's in my own stomach I watched as Josie and another woman (whom I later learned was named Charsie) walked out to the center of the arena. Even from up in the stands I could tell that both were shaking. They both took their places and bowed in near unison to the council and then again to each other.   
  
"Begin!" shouted a male voice, and now that I had my wits, I could tell it came from one of the council. Josie drew her gunblade. Her opponent drew two short swords. Both fighters squared each other up and began to advance. Having a much more aggressive style than me, Josie none-the-less had to center her guard to counter the difficulties of dual blades. Charsie immediately tried to split her guard by swinging simultaneous high and low blows. Josie ducked beneath the high blade and parried the low blade, turned and tried to catch a quick win by slashing at the other woman's exposed side. A swift blade allowed Charsie to parry and bring her other blade to the attack. With a twist of the wrist Josie parried. With this the fight was truly started. Instinct and reflex took over the two fighters as their blades whirled so fast it made the air whistle. Jumping back to avoid a vicious double swing, Josie quickly drew energies and executed an efficient 'fire' spell. Not having enough time to cast shell, Charsie instead leapt to the side. Rolling back on to her feet she found that Josie was now airborne and a mere metre from her. Linking her blades in a cross-guard she caught Josie's gunblade and pushed her away. Again drawing energy, Josie this time sent a thunder spell cracking towards Charsie. Ready this time, the dual blade trainee nullified it with a shell. Both fighters again took their stance. Both were now breathing heavily from the exertion. Always quick on the offensive, Josie advanced. Charsie stood her ground until the last moment before spinning to give her momentum for a powerful high and low combination attack. With speed I had not seen before, Josie parried both blows before sending one of her own to graze the chest of her opponent. It happened so fast that many in the crowd had not seen it. As a red line was revealed through Charsie's cut uniform the whistle blew and Josie was awarded the win. Positively glowing, she almost skipped back the room below. I grinned. When we fought, it was going to be a good one.   
  
Josie and I spent the next hour or so recounting our superb triumphs and it was not until the last fight of the first round that I realized that we still had a long way to go. Leon was called to meet his competitor and Joe downstairs. Silence seemed to follow everywhere he went as people stopped to watch him walk by. Finally noticing that I was in the next duel, I started to warm up. The familiar pang of nerves once again began to build up but not to the extent of the first fight. As the two contenders made their way to the arena I began to make my way down the stairs.   
  
I heard the shout of "begin" but before I could poke my head outside of the downstairs door, the whistle sounded. I ran to the door to find that Leon was already walking back, leaving his competitor lying on the rocky ground. Medics ran to his assistance but as it turned out, the wound was not too serious. Still, I couldn't help but think that anyone that could win so convincingly could do it without injuring the other fighter. Leon passed by me in the doorway without a sound before heading back up the stairs. Seconds later Joe and the fighter/mage came down. My opponent had a dark complexion and dark hair. I smiled shook the mage's hand and wished him luck. He politely returned the courtesy. I frowned when I saw his staff strapped to his back. Blades of any kind had a disadvantage against the versatile staff and he obviously was a more powerful mage then me. All in all this might be a good fight, I thought to myself. Finding myself shoved through the doorway by Joe, I began the seemingly endless walk out to the arena. My nerves were now beginning to start in earnest, along with it a surge of doubt. Quenching these with memories of my first win, I found myself standing on the white starting circle. The mage and I bowed to the council and to each other before drawing our weapons.   
  
"Begin" was the cry from the sidelines. Immediately I felt the inward pull of energies towards my opponent. I stood a little lighter on my feet, waiting to see what would happen. I awaited an attack that never came. A few seconds later I realized with horror that he was just stockpiling energy, using my confusion to set himself up with an almost inexhaustible supply of energy. I had never seen this idea before and subsequently was at a loss of what to do about it. Not wasting any more time, I attacked. He continued to draw energy until the last moment before using his staff to knock aside my clumsy blow. Circling his staff, he swung for my head. I leapt back and took stance. The mage again began to draw energy. In a split-second of thought I realized just how brilliant a strategy this was. Knowing that I lacked the physical strength seriously harry him, he could just continue to draw energies until he was ready to attack himself. Not knowing what else to do, I drew energy and quickly cast a fire spell. Easy manipulating his drawn energy he cast a powerful shell which all but made my own spell fizzle out. I began to think that it may have been an idea to spend the tedious months needed to learn the reflect spell. I leapt at him and tried to break through his guard. Again he held out till the last moment before knocking me away again. My head was spinning with a lack of options. From the beginning of the duel I had no time to think and I fought to retain composure. Knowing that any kind of attack would be futile I did the only thing I could do. I waited. A slow smile began to spread across his face as he watched me submissively back up as far as I could away from him. I was confident that I could break inside his guard if things turned nasty but I was not yet sure if I wanted to show my true speed and strength to those in the stands. I began to weigh my options. A few seconds later my choice was taken away from me. With a cry of elation he shouted "Protect!" followed immediately by "Shell!" He had put all his drawn energies into these two spells and I knew that I could beat on them all day, and still not be able to break them. Despair gripped me as I realized that my chance of victory had just been snatched away. Again he began to draw energy, this time fashioning it into an offensive spell. Concentration overtook him as he closed his eyes put his efforts into casting the spell that would put me out of the competition. The hopelessness of my situation weighed heavily on my mind but still I was determined not to go out without a fight. I drew energy of my own and at the same time emptied my mental reserves. Immediately I cast a shell around myself. Drawing more energy to fuel my spell, I took one last look around. Above the stadium I noticed clouds rolling in. That they were storm clouds manifested by my opponent I had no doubt. Now knowing that his attack would be a thunder one, I began to think of any possible advantages that this would give me. For the second time that day, inspiration struck. With new I hope I threw caution to the wind and began to draw energy. Drawing the obvious water particles need for a water spell I began to lay them over my shell. On and on I worked, furiously trying to thicken my shield of water. All the while the storm clouds grew closer. I found this to be a blessing in disguise, as with them came the moisture that I needed if I had any hope of succeeding. The mage and I worked liked demons to advance our spells. Like this we remained until, at last, the clouds overhead closed, blocking out most of the sunlight. The air was deathly silent. Suddenly I felt the air around me tear asunder as he targeted me for his spell and I heard his voice ring out.   
  
"THUNDARA!" In a flash of blinding light, lightning lanced from the sky and struck me head on. Immediately I felt my hard won energies slip and I screamed with the effort of holding my shell together. I felt the electrical energy race through the barrier of water that I had created before trying to break through my shell. Just as I thought it would never end, it was over. I was sweating with extreme exhaustion but I had captured my opponent's thunder attack. Using a clever scan spell I found the mage shocked but just as tired as I was. With my last shred of energy I cast one last water spell. A torrent of water burst from the barrier I had created and with it went the electrical energy of my opponent. It hit the mage dead on. I was impressed with the second that his shell held the torrent back, but it quickly fell to the tremendous power of his own spell. He fell to the ground, unconscious. I, however, stayed awake long enough to hear the whistle sound and my being declared the victor before, I too, fainted onto the rocky ground.  
  
I awoke several hours later, to find myself surprisingly refreshed. As the memories of the last duel came to me, I jumped to my feet to take stock of myself. I found that I had not one sore spot on my entire body. My wonder grew again as I realized that my mental reserves were once again full. I glanced around the room. I was in a long corridor that was filled with beds identical to mine. Besides mine, the first three were filled. The first was with the mage that I had beaten. Next to him was the familiar figure of Josie followed by the huge man with the great-sword. I swallowed an urge to laugh as I saw that the fighter with the sword was bigger than the bed by a considerable margin. Giddy and lighted-headed from my win I walked from the room and, with some difficulty, found my way to the staircase to the stands above. I found it a bit damaging to my pride that no one noticed when I took my seat, but the current fight soon engrossed me too. It wasn't long before my common sense returned. Like the bolt I lightning that had hit me today, I was suddenly struck with the thought that if this fight was already on, then Josie must have already had hers. I realized that I should have known this from the moment that I saw Josie and the great-sword guy in the beds. Again a thought hit me. If Josie won then we would be fighting after the next duel. Finally we would be forced to compete at our best. Instead of the expected nerves, I felt calm and completely collected. I simply couldn't wait. As if summoned by my thoughts, Josie sat down next to me. She tried to keep a grin from spreading across her face but failed miserably. I grinned back, knowing that she had won.   
  
Moving a bit closer to me, she said in a near whisper "Don't look but that Leon guy has been staring at you for the last five minutes." I laughed out loud.   
  
"For you to know that, you would have to have been looking at him for just as long." I replied.  
  
"Don't you think that it is at all weird that he would watch you instead of the fight that will determine his next opponent?" Josie asked unperturbed. I frowned slightly as this crossed my thoughts. I changed the subject.  
  
"So we will fight at last." I said, not bothering to hide my joy at this prospect. Taking a quick glance at the fight in the arena below, I motioned downstairs.   
  
"I'm going to warm up." I said while shooting a look in Leon's direction. I found that he was no longer looking at me, but instead at Josie. I thought nothing of it and walked downstairs.  
  
My eyes were closed as I blocked out everything except my own mind. Focusing down into nothingness I found equilibrium by gripping the handle of my sheathed blade. Slowly, silently I drew it and took stance. With effortless grace and style I held it horizontally outwards before moving into a very slow slash at where my opponents head would be. Stopping with the point of my blade exactly between my imaginary opponent's eyes I began an equally slow slash downwards, this time stopping in between the phantom's knees. I began repeated the process two more times, just as slow, taking a step forward each time. I remained motionless for a brief moment before repeating again, this time taking three backward steps. Again halting for a second I again repeated the forward slashing, this time with a slight increase in speed. I was not in the least surprised when I felt my blade touch another. I didn't need to open my eyes to know who it was so I continued without hesitating. Meeting equal resistance at the downward motion, I fell into a rhythm. Any who were watching would have found us perfectly in unison, one of us would advance as the other fell back. Each end to the cycle would bring about an increase in speed and by the time that the whistle outside sounded, our gunblades were nothing but a blur. We stopped at this sound. I opened my eyes to find Josie doing the same.   
  
"Ready?" I asked with a slight smile.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be." She said with a full grin. Our conversation faded away as Leon and a girl of about the same age as him walked through the doorway to the arena, no longer needing the guidance of Joe. The girl had a set of throwing knives sheathed about her waist. Holding the door ajar, Josie and I watched their progress into the middle and allowed the previous fighters to pass. One sported a shallow cut to the hand. We watched as both current fighters made their way quickly to the centre.   
  
They both bowed (Leon's was very shallow) and the call of "Begin" was shouted. Immediately the girl drew a knife and threw it.   
  
With a lazy contempt, Leon held his palm out at it and called "Slow". The dagger obediently slowed down and Leon easily plucked it from the air. With the same attitude he threw the knife back at her. It moved so fast that I lost it in mid-flight but I could not mistaken where it landed as the women cried out in pain. The knife was protruding from her foot. With absolute coolness, Leon bowed the council and then to her before walking back towards us. I noticed that not a few spectators in the crowd were on their feet in rage. I could not help but agree with them. I managed to maintain self-control as he walked past me, but my hand was quivering. Naturally Josie couldn't resist. She rounded on him the moment he passed through the door.   
  
"You bastard!" she shouted, "you didn't need to do that!" Turned slowly before a slow smile grew on his face. It kept growing till it was nothing besides an evil grin. He took no pain to hide his happiness that he had upset her and with a wink, he turned and walked back up the stairs. I had to grab the back of Josie's shirt to stop her from following.   
  
"Your not trying to get out of our duel are you?" As angry as she was, she couldn't resist my bait.   
  
"You only wish." She retorted. Still furious she walked out the door. It was not until we began the long walk out to the center did a frown cross my own face. Leon was good. Very good. He had cast a slow spell with no effort at all. I had felt no disturbance even though it was a relatively powerful magic. My frown was replaced with a smile as I realized where I was. I noticed Josie's upbeat step and knew that she was just as excited as I was. We reached the center and bowed to the council before bowing to each other. Over the sound of my own heartbeat, I heard the sound I had wanted to here all day.   
  
"Begin." Josie and I didn't move. We stood there staring at each other.   
  
After a few seconds I called to her "What's say we cut straight to the main game."   
  
She smiled and called back "You know it."  
  
We drew our blades in unison and my heart gave a leap of joy at the moment. Josie immediately ran at me. I watched her bright eyes as she looked into mine. I waited until she was a couple of metres away before I leapt at her. Our blades clashed loudly as we threw our weight into this first attack. We contended our strength for a couple of seconds before disengaging. Honoring my earlier statement I attacked with all the strength I possessed. Josie did the same and again our blades clashed horribly. Quick on the offensive Josie slashed at my mid-section causing me to jump back. Palms outstretched, I drew energy before furiously sending it crackling at Josie in the form of lighting. She followed suit only altering her spell to a shell. With a cry of effort I slashed at her. She parried easily before thrusting at my throat. I ducked just as easily and thrusted my own blade upwards. Josie jumped back. I found that I was grinning and that Josie was doing the same. We were both panting from the sudden exertion but I, at least, loved every moment of it. Again Josie jumped at me. I spun away and we again joined the battle. On and on we fought, past the level of endurance and skill that we had ever shown in training. Our gunblades were a blur as the very air rang with the sound of their clashing. Time and circumstance lost meaning as my mind concentrated completely on sparkling blue eyes and the tip of a gunblade. Ten minutes of fierce fighting later, we again pulled apart. I extended my senses and took in as much as I could. Josie was dripping with sweat and was breathing heavily. I felt a drop of my own perspiration fall to the rocky ground. Again Josie leapt at me. She whirled her blade above her head and used her weight, strength, speed and the force of gravity to try to break my guard. It very nearly worked. My legs crumpled under the power of the blow. I was forced to drop to one knee and use the ground as a brace. Josie bore down on me with seemingly limitless endurance. My arms burned but I held the little ground I still possessed. My knee ached as it was pushed firmly into the rocky ground. My body was resisting my every effort to hold on but I was not ready to lose this fight, not by a long shot. With strength that was born from pure desperation I pushed upwards. With a shout of exhaustion I forced Josie's blade away. I again focused my concentration on the task at hand. The whistle blew. Forgetting where I was, I wheeled in confusion. This confusion only increased when I realized what the whistle meant. I looked at Josie only to find her just as confused as me. This confusion soon gave way to disappointment and then again to utter frustration. I followed her downward gaze and found that my knee was torn apart. My own disappointment gave way to amusement.   
  
"Looks like you won." I said drowsily. Josie gave me a dirty look.   
  
To my amazement she turned to the council and yelled "Oi! That's not counted! I didn't draw that blood!" I could not help but laugh out loud.   
  
A strong woman's voice called out "You didn't need to. The rules clearly state that the fight will end when first blood is drawn. First blood has been drawn and you are the victor." Her voice could be heard even though she didn't shout.  
  
"Well then I surrender!" called back Josie. I found this also to be incredibly funny. A derisive snort issued from a different council member.   
  
"You cannot surrender after a duel is over!" said and man's incredulous voice. Thwarted and in a complete rage Josie stormed back towards the stands. I forced my legs into a jog and shouted after her   
  
"We'll find out another day!" She would know what I meant. Again I laughed and stared in wonder after a girl of twelve who had just argued with the leaders of the most powerful mercenary organization in all knowledge.  
  
By the time we walked back to the little room below the stands, Josie's mood had not improved in the slightest.   
  
"Can you believe they stopped the fight over I bit of gravel rash. I mean..." I stopped her in mid-sentence.  
  
"You have another fight to prepare for, and I dare say it'll be against Leon. Go and get some rest." She refused at first, as I knew she would, but I threatened to put a sleep spell on her if she didn't. She eventually agreed.   
  
"You'd better not think that you've got yourself out of fighting me properly," she said with a roguish smirk "we will find out one day." Unable to resist, I kissed her before promptly sending her to bed. She complained that I acted like the mother she never had before walking off. Unable to throw off disappointment that I was out of the competition, I did at least feel happy that it was Josie that had done it. Remembering that Leon's next fight would be now I rushed upstairs, determined to finally see him in action. I found that he and his opponent were making their way out to the centre. Fearing that if I sat down I might faint in exhaustion, I instead stood at the railing. Leon's opponent was a plain looking fellow that looked as though he might be good at a few different weapons. He was muscled, but not to the point of bulkiness, lithe but not amazingly light on his feet. He had a broad sword sheathed around his waist, which I thought suited him perfectly.   
  
I watched as the two fighters did the traditional bows, before the shout of "begin" was cried. The well-balanced fighter drew his broad sword and simply waited until Leon made his move. After several minutes , Leon drew his weapon. It's blade was almost completely clear and I could see through with only a slight distortion.   
  
I gasped out a single word: "Mythril!" This legendary substance was as expensive as it was rare. It was treasured by weapon makers as it exhibits amazing strength while being extremely light. The point of Leon's gunblade would be just as sharp as the day he had bought it, even if he had been cutting rocks with it. Mythril was also rumored to have some magical properties, but no proof had ever been shown. Leon began to walk towards the broad swordsman. The other fighter responded with a fire spell, which was effortlessly dissipated with a shell. Leon kept walking. The swordsman waited until Leon was within his sword length until he struck. He swung an overhead strike aimed for Leon's throat. Moving so fast that it was hard to follow, Leon dodged the side before brutally slashing the swordsman's chest. Without stopping Leon walked back to the stands as the other fighter collapsed. My heart took an extra beat as I realized that Josie would be fighting him next. Never being one to worry, I none-the-less thought about what might happen if Josie lost.   
  
"She won't lose," I said quietly before moving down to the room below. Josie was still asleep. Illion's voice sounded across the stands as he announced that the final duel would be fought one hour from now. Time crept by slowly and I was left alone to my worries and fears. Each passing second caused my nervousness to grow and not even my training could help me to clear my thoughts. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that by the end of the day Josie would be the newest member of SEED, I couldn't escape a feeling of impending doom.  
  
This went on for the better part of the hour that I was forced to wait. At the height of my apprehension and with only ten minutes remaining, Josie entered the room looking better than she had looked all day.   
  
"Is it my imagination or is there something very strange about those beds." Josie said in greeting. I agreed at once before relaying the news of her next duel.   
  
"You have less then ten minutes left until you start. You probably already guessed it, but you are fighting Leon. Oh, by the way Leon's gunblade is made from mythril so watch out." I said all this very quickly. Josie laughed.   
  
"I would have to watch out whether it was made from mythril or not." She teased. I ignored her bait.   
  
"He fights well you know." I said after a pause.  
  
"So do I." Josie said matter-of-factly. I couldn't think of anything else to say so I settled for staring at her. "You don't think I can win?" she said with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"I don't know. That's the problem." I barely whispered.  
  
"Oh lighten up will you. I'm going to try win a tournament, not a war." She replied with a smile. "I will either win or I won't, there's nothing I can do about it now."  
  
"I don't know what I would do without you." I said for lack of other words. Josie giggled.  
  
"Let's hope you never have to find out. But I'll take that for you way of saying good luck." With this and a tap on the shoulder by Joe, she followed a silent Leon out of the room and out onto the arena. I raced upstairs to regain my seat. With baited breath I watched as the two gunblade fighters made their way to the centre. They got there all too soon. They bowed to the council. They bowed to each other. I could not help but worry. I could not help the uneasy feeling that I got every time I looked at Leon.  
  
"Begin" was called. Both gunblades were drawn and the two duelists took their stance. Both fighters advanced. They stopped just within striking distance of one another. There they simply glared at each other. I now found that my heart was beating faster than it had been before my first fight. Leon struck. Josie parried. Josie struck. Leon parried. Neither of the attacks were executed well as each fighter tried to gauge the others ability. I barely noticed that some time during this I had jumped to my feet. Josie attacked and was again fended off. Leon followed with the same. Neither used any more speed or strength than was absolutely necessary. They then fell into a rhythm of attacks and defensive actions. They fought with endurance that knew no limits as they were both well within their capabilities. The fight raged on and half an hour later I realized that they were now fighting with a lot more skill than the beginning. Suddenly Josie was presented with an opportunity that every fighter dreams about. While being forced back by another attack from Josie, Leon tripped. Simply tripped on a stone behind him. My heart leapt with hope as Josie unleashed her speed and strength into a blow that would finish the duel. Leon was a blur as he nimbly dodged away. My heart hurt all the more as it fell from its height into the pit of my stomach. My own face was a reflection of Josie's. Open mouthed amazement. I knew I could not hope to match the speed that Leon had just shown and unless Josie was a lot better than I thought she was, neither could she. Knowing that he had just dealt a winning hand, Leon grinned. More noticeably than usual, it sent shivers down my spine. He attacked immediately. Pushed to the limit of her skill, Josie managed to fend him off. Relentlessly, Leon attacked again. This time Josie couldn't stop him and he soon managed an unguarded strike at her arm. This I figured was the end of the fight so I was completely amazed to find that Josie had inspected her arm to find that only her sleeve was cut. No blood had been drawn. My mind whirled at the precision this feat had shown. Surely it was an accidental fluke. Leon allowed her enough time to regain her stance before again attacking. Josie was again unable to contend which resulted in another cut sleeve. So the first time wasn't an accident! He could actually clothes without touching flesh. I was struck by a sense of helplessness. He was a lot more skillful than I could have imagined. It seemed to have no effect on Josie, however. Although exhausted by her attempt to defend herself she put everything she had into an attack. With contemptuous ease, Leon counter attacked. This resulted in a slash across Josie's chest. Again only her uniform was cut. Comprehension hit me. Leon didn't mean just to beat Josie, he meant to humiliate her. I raged silently at this indignity. My anger grew as I watch him taut her. I noticed the fatigue on Josie's features and prayed that her pride would allow her to surrender. I knew that it wouldn't. With graceful ease Leon raised his arm, palm outstretched. Loud enough for all to hear, he spoke one word: "Fira!" I cried out as a searing wave of heat surged towards Josie who emptied her reserves to create a shell strong enough to stop it. She was revealed through the smoke, unscathed but beaten. In less than five minutes Leon had depleted her mentally and physically. She was now panting heavily and looked as though she would collapse on her feet. Her eyes, however, showed that she would not stop until first blood was drawn. In complete contrast, Leon was not in the least fatigued despite the skill that he was fighting with. Brought back to my own position I noticed that my knuckles had turned white from gripping the rail too tightly. My mind was reeling at the fact that Leon had just cast a level two element spell with no effort at all. What mattered more was that I had not felt the energy being manipulated, which indicated extraordinary control. This took the several seconds break that Josie got. Without lowering his hand Leon fired another spell, this time a weak fire. With willpower alone, Josie attempted to raise a sufficient shell. Leon's spell broke Josie's easily. The fire hit Josie's shoulder and disintegrated that part of her uniform. She stumbled but somehow managed to keep not only upright, but her ground as well. I saw with dismay that she was still not bleeding. The duel continued. Leon waited until Josie reached some semblance of self-control before he again cast another fire. Again Josie was unable to match it and it crashed into her other shoulder. Josie did not give ground. Leon laughed. Josie made an effort to lift her gunblade, which had found it's way to her sheath. She drew it and again took stance. I have no words to describe the burning pride I felt for her then or the hatred I felt for Leon. Slowly Leon's grin grew wider and he waited for her to catch her breath before casting one last fire at her. It was a weak one but was aimed specifically to burn away her remaining clothes. I noticed briefly that my hands no longer rested on the rail but instead on the hilt of my gunblade. Still no blood had been draw. Completely naked in front of the entire stadium Josie collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. Anger fueled my thoughts as I watched Leon walk slowly to her and pull back his gunblade. Time stood still as I watched. With a cry of pure effort Josie moved to one knee and pulled her own gunblade upward at Leon's head. I watched as Josie's blade glanced the rocky ground, creating a small spark. I watched it continue its way up. I watched as Leon's face changed from complacency to alarm. I watched as Josie's gunblade created a gash across Leon's nose and between his eye's. Blood was drawn. The whistle sounded. I leapt in pure joy and for the first time during the fight, allowed my gaze to drift from Josie. Shouts and cheers erupted from the SEEDs in the stands. I found that no small number of them had weapons in hand in response to Leon's affront. I looked back down to the arena and felt my blood freeze cold. Josie was still kneeling in front of Leon. Leon's face was running with blood but I could not mistake the anger on his features. I watched the moment in slow motion as he drew back his gunblade.   
  
"YOU BITCH!" he screamed. Pulled back behind his head, the mythril of his blade seemed to blow up in a shade of sickly green. The putrid color lit up the arena as he slashed downwards, almost completely decapitating Josie. I watched her drop to the ground. I stood frozen as I watched the blood pour from her neck. My joy was ripped away under a wave of sorrow. Rage unlike any I had ever dreamed before took over my mind. I unconsciously drew my blade and leapt from the stands. Aware that I was not the only one, I watched as SEEDS rushed towards the beacon of green light that was Leon's gunblade. He was running for the exit and was easily cutting down anyone who stood in his way. This phased me not in the slightest and with tears of anger and sadness running down my face, I took off after him. The nearest SEED recognized me as a trainee and moved to stop me. I dodged easily. She called out to another in front of me. I blasted him with a water spell without slowing down. The only thing I could think about was getting at Leon. The rage I felt was maddening. I saw I was gaining on him. I was only a hundred metres away. Suddenly a wave of drowsiness hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled but kept my feet. I turned to the stands and saw Illion standing his hands outstretched towards me. Fearing my chance for revenge was going to be taken from me, I somehow found a way to pick up my pace. Tears blinded my vision and my face was twisted in a mask of rage. My mind replayed the moment that I had just witnessed and kept all thought of exhaustion from my body. I was only fifty metres away. Illion's second sleep spell hit me harder than before and I fell to the ground. Regaining consciousness in mid-fall, I immediately rolled back to my feet. I took off again, fueled by my anger. I was only twenty metres away. Leon turned and saw me. He saw the blade in my hand and grinned. He pointed towards Josie with his now green blade but did not slow down. Anger again refreshed me as I close the gap to ten metres. I felt my every muscle tense, ready for the moment that I would bring my blade to bare on Leon's body. I outstretched my hand to cast a spell that would knock him from his feet. Then I felt Illion's third spell hit me. It was incredibly powerful and I collapsed to the ground, beaten. The last thing I saw before I fell into darkness was the limp form of Josie, lying in a pool of her own blood. 


	3. Revenge

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything (which I doubt anyone will) at least get my permission first.  
  
'  
  
I awoke the next morning to find the sun well and truly in the sky. I cursed myself for sleeping in before getting up and pulling on my nearest uniform. As I tied my sheath around my waist I wondered if Josie had bothered to wait for me. Grief hit me harder than any physical blow ever could have. Memories of the previous day came back to me and I battled a brief fight for self-control. I lost. I collapsed onto my knees before falling forwards onto all fours. Hot tears rolled down my face and onto the floor as my grief swallowed me whole. In front of my very eyes I saw a blade of sickening green lance downward to take Josie away from me. Like a scene in a movie the moment replayed in my head causing it to ache horribly. The pain was unbearable. I closed my eyes only to find that this made the images more vivid. With considerable effort I thought back to our moments of joy: passing to trainee, a particular training bout, our victories at the tournament. The good times we had together. I found that these hurt more. Sobs racked my body as I began to shake as if gripped by a chill. Each moment I relived felt as though I was being ripped apart. I could not imagine my life without her. I stayed there for most of the morning. Suddenly, without any lessening in force, my sadness changed into rage. I opened my eyes to see myself in the small puddle of tears I had created on the floor. Replacing this image was a young face lined with snow-white hair. Every part of my being gained amazing clarity as I held onto one thought: revenge.   
  
"He will pay," I whispered to myself "HE WILL PAY!" I leapt to my feet and with all my strength, threw my gunblade at the wall. It sunk down to the hilt where it stayed, quivering. Without knocking, Illion entered my room.   
  
"You!" I shouted at him. I grabbed where my blade should have hung at my side, but instead felt nothing but air. I attacked him anyway. Anger gave me strength and speed but he still ducked under my wild punch, drew a staff from behind his back and pushed me back onto my bed. I jumped back to my feet, emptied my reserves and used it all to send a powerful thunder spell crackling towards him. The room was lit by my careless use of my energy. With no effort at all he cast a shell that dwarfed my own spell to the point that it simply disappeared. I jumped to the wall and grabbed my gunblade. I yanked it out of the wall and swung wildly towards Illion.   
  
I stopped in mid-turn as he calmly said "Stop." He looked for a moment at my frozen form. "I am going to release you. If you attack me again I will knock you out, walk out of this room and never return." He said, ignoring my face that was contorted with rage. Suddenly I could move again. I stopped my swing and stood as still as I could. Still, I was trembling.   
  
"Tell me, why are you angry with me?" he said with infuriating indifference.  
  
"Why? WHY! I'll tell you why! Josie is dead because of you! You let that thing into the tournament, you sat there and watched as he humiliated her, you watched as he killed her, watched as he ran away and then took away my chance for vengeance!" I yelled at him. It took considerable effort not to take another swing at him.  
  
"I would like a chance to explain myself. Will you allow it?" Even in my rage I was stunned to find that a member of the council was asking my permission to say something. I said so.  
  
"I want you to not only listen to what I have to say, but to consider it carefully."  
  
"Out with it!" I raged, wondering how he could ask anything of me now.  
  
"Firstly I would like to bring to your attention that I am a member of the Council of Seven. I am bound to follow tradition and I could not stop the duel until one of the rules was broken. These rules will, of course, be changed in light of yesterday." He said the last a bit quicker as I grabbed the hilt of my gunblade. His casual attitude enraged me further.  
  
"Leon, as you would well know, is more powerful at seventeen than most people could dream of being in their lives. He has an unpredictable mind. He can be withdrawn at times and near insane in others. He has received counseling when these problems were discovered but this did nothing but make him more unpredictable. Despite this I did not imagine that he would have killed your friend. I do not believe I can be blamed for lack of this lack of foresight." As hard as I tried, I could not continue to be mad at him. His logic was impeccable.   
  
"Back to my earlier point, Leon is incredibly powerful. You are smart enough to realize that I could not have caught him of foot which means the only method of stopping I could have used was magic. Had I have tried this I could have ended up killing or maiming the entire council as Leon has learnt the reflect spell. Also I would like to bring to your attention that the stadium is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by miles of inhabitation. Not only this, but none who competed in the tournament knew where they were because of the windowless vehicle that you were transported to the stadium in. The theory behind this is if anyone did what Leon did yesterday then they would be easily tracked and brought back to garden." I was aware that I was now being talked to like a child but a maniacal glee lit up inside me at his last words.  
  
"So you've found him then!" I said as I flashed a triumphant smile. Illion made no attempt to answer, at which my insane grin turned back into a scowl.   
  
"Also I do not feel any remorse for stopping you from reaching Leon. He would have killed you within a couple of minutes. I refused to let the three best trainees we have ever had at garden become lost to us on the one day. Believe it or not but the whole council, including me, see great potential in you. I do however accept responsibility for allowing Leon into the tournament. The council voted and felt that he could be a great profit to us as a SEED. If it is any conciliation, I voted that he should be expelled from Garden." I began to talk but he cut me off.  
  
"I have one last thing to say. As a token of my deepest sympathy and under the hope that you will someday forgive the council, I have come to offer my service as a personal trainer." He said simply. I started to talk again but found that I was at a loss for words. With I flash of insight I saw that if I accepted then I would be under the council's direct control but I also saw that my best chance for revenge lay with Illion's offer.   
  
"Can we start today?" I asked after a long pause, my lust for vengeance overwhelming any other thoughts.  
  
"If you feel up to it." he answered and for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of a smile cross his face.  
  
I closed my eyes to focus myself. It didn't work. I tried to look into Illion's brown eyes but found that they changed into the pools of grey nothingness that were Leon's. As he drew his weapon and took stance, I attacked him. I struck high, low and anywhere that I could swing in between. Finding a way to finally exhaust my anger I fought furiously. For several minutes my crazed attack found nothing but stout defense before Illion leapt clear. He took stance again. I noticed that it left a wide opening. I attacked again, exploiting this weakness. My frenzied blows were traded for precision and although this meant a significant decrease in speed and power, within a couple of minutes the tip of my gunblade edged his throat.   
  
"Good," He said, "it took longer than I was hoping, but not as long as I had feared." He motioned for me to sheath my blade for a moment.   
  
"You did find the gap in my defense but only after the second try. Tell me, why do you think that this is so?" he asked.  
  
"Because I was fighting with anger alone for the first try. Even though the gap was obvious, I was not able to see it." I answered truthfully.  
  
"Exactly. Now try again." He said as he took the same stance. I attacked again, aiming to exploit the weakness once again. In a few moments I found that I now had the edge of his staff resting on my temple.   
  
"What went wrong that time?" he questioned again.  
  
"I couldn't keep up. You were just to fast for me." I said, shaking my head.  
  
"That's right. You realize that you have two very powerful aspects of fighting. Your mind and your rage. You are a clever boy, able to pick up things that others may miss. However you would lose this completely if you were fighting Leon and not I." My eyes narrowed at his name.  
  
"Because of Leon, however, you now possess a strength that not even you truly perceive. Your anger and determination will make you the most powerful fighter this garden has ever produced, but you must not let this rule your thoughts as well." I stared blankly back at him. Trying a different tact he started again.   
  
"You must treat your rage like you would a wild animal. You cannot tame it or else it will lose its ferocity. You cannot let it run free or it will become a merciless killing machine. Instead you must try to harness it. You must control it, drawing power from it, but not letting it consume your good judgment." I nodded in understanding.  
  
"It is not as easy as it sounds though. You will most likely find that you cannot will yourself to be angry at everything. Instead you must think to yourself that every fight you win will bring you one step closer to Leon." Again I nodded.   
  
"We will begin again now, I want to you try what I have said. I will be training you in earnest now. I am quite ready with praise when it is deserved, but I will also not be as forgiving with mistakes." For the third time I nodded. Illion turned and took three steps backward before drawing his staff again. I drew my gunblade. We took stance and I saw that his faulty stance had been replaced with a different one. I closed my eyes and did as he told me. A singular determination swept over me as I prepared myself to attack. "I must win this, I must win this." I repeated over and over in my head and in truth I think I yelled it out loud as I leapt to the attack. With an overhead strike my blade clashed with his staff and my training began. One minute of furious fighting later and I saw a fault in his style. It was gone in an instant. Again I drew it out and was sure that it was there. With one last effort I manipulated the fight so the fault was again revealed and I seized it. Suddenly I felt his iron-tipped staff crash into my cheek. I dropped heavily to the ground, as lights were beginning to appear before my eyes.   
  
"Too slow!" he shouted, "you had two other opportunities and your final effort was a half-hearted one. Mistakes should only happen once. You may have just lost your only chance to avenge the girl." Infuriated at his reference of Josie I gained my feet unsteadily. This time he attacked. I could tell that he was holding back a lot, but I could barely keep up. As my anger burnt away with effort I realized that his attacks were patterned. Predicting his next move, I counted it early. This was rewarded by a jab in the stomach followed by another in the chin. I dropped again.   
  
"Again, too slow!" I tasted blood on my lips as I got back on my feet. I attacked again, this time weary of any patterns or mistakes. A sudden increase in speed and strength and again I was on the ground.   
  
"You are fighting for absolution, not for a candy bar! Pick up the act." Flushed with shame I again got to my feet. With a shout I attacked again. I put my weary body to the test as I harried him with a few thrusts and slashes. Suddenly an opening appeared and with pure reflexes if leapt at it. I miscued and my blade was knocked away.   
  
"Better!" Illion shouted. Finding no satisfaction in this at all, I silently vowed to myself that he would not knock me to the floor again. Several hours later Illion suddenly slipped his staff back into it's holder at his back.   
  
"I think that is enough for today." I realized that I was a mess. I took stock and found that I was sweating furiously and covered in blood and bruises. My spirit, however, was far from beaten.   
  
"More." I gasped out.  
  
"Now, now you are not going to become as strong as Leon in a single day. Besides, the less you train today, the more you will be able to handle tomorrow." He said, but halted anyway.  
  
"No," I said, pausing to take a breath. "I will train as long as I can today and as long as I can tomorrow."  
  
"Going on now would really be futile. You are too exhausted." He answered.  
  
"Whatever doesn't kill me..." I left the rest of the ancient saying unsaid.  
  
"None the less I must get back to the task of running the Balamb Garden." He finished. I sighed in defeat.  
  
"When can we meet again?" I resigned to asking.  
  
"Tomorrow. I can spare up to six hours a day." he answered.  
  
"I would like to take every last one of them."   
  
"Very well." Again I saw a slight smile cross his face as he walked away. I was left alone to my memories. I did not sheath my gunblade but instead continued to train by myself. No matter how hard I tried, this still did nothing to diminish the burning desire I had to see Josie one last time.   
  
I collapsed into bed that night. I was a wreck, emotionally and physically. Over and over my mind replayed Josie's death. It was a never-ending loop of pain exaggerated by my aching limbs. To the great displeasure of my bruised and battered body, I dragged myself off the bed and headed to the shower. I undressed and climbed in. Almost frantically I turned the taps, gasping at the initial feeling of hot water on my skin. Immediately I felt my body relax. My stiff muscles loosened and I almost sighed in relief. Almost. There was still one other ache that I could not get rid of so easily. I closed my eyes and immersed myself in the strong stream of water, allowing it to pound against my head, trying to force away all my conscious thoughts. Trying and failing. I could not rinse away the blood that I saw inside my mind. Still I stayed, and soon, tears ran down my cheeks, lost amongst the water. It was a long time before I could make myself step back out into the harshness of reality, where my tears could not be mistaken for anything but. The instant I did, my body again protested. I pulled on my cadet pajamas before again collapsing into bed. This time I stayed, lacking the willpower and energy to rise again. Still I was plagued by the previous day. It seemed like a lifetime away. Part of me could not imagine my life without Josie, and yet another seemed to think that she was a dream, and my life was always like this. I felt my eyes prickle as I was brought to tears once again. I had not known how much she had meant to me, and now that I did, I couldn't do anything about it. My life had revolved around her and in a strange way it still did. This began the worst night in my young life. Nightmares and twisted delusions of pain and rage riddled my sleep. Pain and rage, I would know these words well in the time to come. I twisted and turned until my young body quite literally refused to move. And still I was haunted by the memories that I had already labeled the past. I was dreading the dawn.  
  
I buried myself in training for the next year. I couldn't bring myself to attend Josie's funeral and so I smothered my grief under a complete determination to kill Leon. Eventually my body became accustomed to the daily abuse and this more than anything hardened me far beyond my years. Every waking moment that I was not eating, drinking or showering was spent in the training rooms. With eight hours for sleep I spent a full fifteen and a half hours a day training. While others my age were out with their friends, I was working to avenge mine. This ultimately meant I had no social life what so ever. My progress at 'harnessing the beast' with Illion advanced rapidly at first before slowing to a grinding halt. My mind and body continued to grow stronger every passing day but I could not reach a state of meditation that was necessary for a large amount of techniques he tried to teach me. However my abilities as a mage improved dramatically under his tutoring. After a year of work I was able to cast second level spells with relative ease and was even able to cast a singular third grade spell, although it fatigued me dearly. My mind had evolved as a result of Illion's hard teachings and I could now pick up on the slightest abnormality in any aspect of my life. In short, my mind became a purely analytical machine. My fighting style, general instinct and reflexes had improved to the point that I could now challenge him. Over the past year my face and body had hardened well past the age of thirteen. In direct contrast to the previous year, the tournament passed with little effort at all on my part. With unrivaled determination I finished my opponent in the final duel after ten seconds. I felt no happiness or even satisfaction at this, only the need to forget the arena forever and get back to training. My transition into becoming a full member of SEED was uneventful, with the rules being given to me during my daily training session with Illion. I was given a wardrobe of SEED uniforms and for another month my life did not change in the slightest. One training session soon after this I was given notice of my first mission from Illion. At the end of another training session, he passed me a plain folder.  
  
"This is a list of everything will be supplied with for this mission. Your brief will be given to you formally in front of the rest of the council." He said. This was one of the rules of garden, at least four of the seven council members must be in attendance before anything officially binding can be said.   
  
"Tomorrow you will meet with your team members, or team member I should say. After, you will go with her to the briefing room. She will show you the way. You should study everything in that folder explicitly." He began to talk again but I stopped him.  
  
"Tell me, will I ever get a chance to fight Leon again?" I asked suddenly changing the subject. He was not the slightest bit put off by the question.   
  
"You are impatient. You are thirteen years old and have a long way to go yet in this lifetime. My heart tells me you will meet with the reckoning you seek." This was the first time I had ever heard him reveal anything of his own feelings.  
  
"OK then. I will try to be more patient." I said reasonably.  
  
"No you won't. You will chafe at every moment that you are not working towards the ends you desire." He spoke with an all-knowing tone. With this he walked away. I too left the training room, to run over the folder that I had just been given. I knew that he was right. I noticed now more than ever a throbbing pain in my head that seemed to grow every day.  
  
The next day at the appointed time I walked towards a room where I would meet my only team member for my first mission. I had read her file many times over the night and knew that she was considered as one of the best assassins in garden. I opened the door and instantly knew why. The physical description in her file did not do justice to her. One look was all it took to see that she would probably be the most beautiful woman I would ever meet. She had wavy, golden blonde hair that almost long enough to reach her waist. She had light brown eyes and a smile would turn any warm-blooded man to jelly. She smiled often. She was well proportioned and had the graceful ease of a dancer. She also teemed with daggers. All were hidden but I noticed them all the more. There was only one other man in the room who introduced me before walking out. Something about this niggled in the back of my mind.   
  
"Hiya," She said in greeting as she held out her hand "my name's Taen"  
  
"I know." I replied as we shook. I noticed at least three more daggers that I had missed on my first glance.  
  
"So you're the promising rookie that I'm supposed to be looking after, eh?" She said with a grin.  
  
"I guess so." I answered without enthusiasm.   
  
"Let's take a walk. The only room I hate more than this one is the briefing room." With this she walked out of the room with me beside her. I realized that had I not known that she was nineteen, I could have thought she was anywhere from early twenties to as young as I was. As we walked through the crowded hallways of the garden, something again ate at my mind. It took a few minutes before it clicked. Even with her dazzling smile, she didn't get any admiring glances from the men that she passed and seemed to make the women look away in discomfort.  
  
"Lesbian wasn't on your file." I said casually. She laughed.  
  
"Oh you're a quick one all right." She said with affirmation.  
  
"Is there anything else that I should know, or are you going to wait for me to figure everything out myself?"  
  
"Nope I think that's it. Are you this grumpy all the time?" I started to talk but she cut me off "I'm sorry, of course you are. Hell, if I had a childhood like yours I'd be grumpy too." I laughed at this obvious lack of tact. It sounded strange to my own ears. I had not heard it since Josie's death.   
  
"If you don't mind me saying, you seem to lack the subtlety of a brilliant assassin." For the second time she laughed in response.   
  
"Now what type of brilliant assassin would I be if I was exactly what I look and sound like?" I didn't answer, so she did. "I'll tell you what type, a dead one." I saw that, like Josie, her smile was irremovable.  
  
"We should go to the briefing room." Was my only reply.  
  
"Yeah, might as well get this over and done with." She flicked a strand of hair behind her ear and changed directions slightly. We took the lift to the third floor before we were told to wait by a pair of SEEDs that didn't seem to be doing anything besides guarding a large doorway sealed by two wooden doors. We took seats as they were offered to us. Taen sighed and said in an undertone.   
  
"They always make us wait, doesn't matter if you're early or late, they always make us wait." It was five minutes later before the two men opened the doors to us. Taen was on her feet a second later and marched into the room with me on her heels. The doors shut behind us. The room was almost completely empty save for a large wooden bench that all the council members sat behind. I did not fail to notice that all seven members were in attendance. Illion had said that there were usually only four at a briefing. Taen and I saluted in traditional SEED style and stood at attention before Illion talked to us.   
  
"Welcome. Your mission will be to assassinate a political power in the Galbedian region." He handed Taen a few photos. "Our client for this mission wishes to remain anonymous. In two days from now a ball will be held at the Galbedia hotel. Your target will be in attendance. This is a mission of most importance and you must achieve success by any means necessary." He emphasized the last three words strongly. He looked at Taen. "You are squad commander and it will be your job to take down the target as covertly as possible. The quieter the better. You are strongly urged to make it look like an accident." He turned to me. "You are to support Taen in any way she sees fit. However if the covert attempt does not succeed it will be your job to assault the target head on. The target must be killed under all circumstances. Casualties must be kept to a minimum. You will be given your equipment and any extra information you require tonight, as you depart for Galbedia. You have heard the mission brief. Do you accept?" I had been told that this question was traditional only and a negative response would be ignored. Taen and I murmured our assent before we were dismissed.  
  
"Sounds fun" Taen murmured sarcastically.  
  
"It shouldn't be too difficult," I said back "this is my first mission after all."  
  
"I thought you of all people would have picked up on the fine print. 'Casualties must be kept to a minimum' is code for 'if you need to attack him head on, your gunna have to kill more than him'." I didn't reply.  
  
"You're no fun." She said after a time before running off. I shook my head and altered my course to the training room.  
  
"Can I have your tickets please?" said the doorman monotonously. I handed over the tickets before escorting Taen into the hotel. The SEED had worked wonders on my appearance and I now appeared to be in my late teens, but still as ageless as Taen. We were both in formal dress but somehow the SEED had managed to hide my gunblade within my clothing. They hadn't needed to do the same for Taen's daggers. We entered the ballroom. I scanned it as unobtrusively as I could. Even if I didn't know what our target looked like, I could have figured it out in a second. He was the only one who was surrounded by bodyguards.   
  
"OK, we're a young couple out to have fun. I know it might be hard for you, but smile and laugh a lot when we're talking." Taen whispered in my ear.  
  
"I count sixteen potential threats." I said in what I hoped looked like, light-hearted banter. Taen laughed.  
  
"I got fifteen. The two guys outside with rifles are hardy potential threats." Keeping my expression light I scanned the room again.   
  
"I missed the sax player." I admitted with an attempted smile. Taen laughed again.   
  
"Come on lets dance." She said loud enough for most to hear. I put up enough resistance to not seem out of place before I let her pull me out to the dance floor. As soon as we were close enough that no one else could hear we began our planning.  
  
"How long to you think he will stay?" I asked, leaving a smile on my face.  
  
"I don't know why he's here so it's hard to tell. But what I do know is that he will be awfully pissed off at being hounded by those dogs of his." She somehow managed to look embarrassed as she said this. She's good, I thought.  
  
"Are those snipers outside his men or are they here to kill him too?" I said laughing. I glanced around quickly, making sure that no one was suspicious.  
  
"I dunno. But I think that I might give them a chance to shoot if they're against him." she said with all the likeness of shyness. She pulled out a small vial. "This is for backup." I was suddenly aware that she had moved all of her daggers onto me.   
  
"Your going unarmed." I said frowning.   
  
"Frown again and I'll stick you with one of those daggers." She said cheekily. I could tell that she was completely serious though.  
  
"OK so what's your plan." I replied, again laughing.  
  
Ten minutes later we were ready. The politician was still in attendance and was indeed starting to become annoyed at his bodyguard's complete reluctance to let anyone talk to him. I mimed a quick statement to Taen before walking over to get myself a drink. I watched from the corner of my eye as Taen discreetly pour the vial of poison into her own drink. She slyly looked in my direction before walking off towards our target. I looked around the room. If anyone had noticed our conversation on the ballroom, they didn't show it. Taen smiled widely and I watched, as our target seemed to become enchanted with her. I smiled slightly. The bodyguards intercepted her and she used her magic on them too. It didn't work. They seemed insistent to make sure that she wasn't hiding any weapons. She indignantly disagreed and, true to her word, managed to draw the bodyguards far enough away to give the snipers outside a perfect shot. It didn't happen. I showed no reaction but I was slightly disappointed. After a short struggle the politician offered to do the search himself. Taen smiled knowingly before obligingly giving herself over. Five minutes later the search was over (the man seemed to check certain areas very carefully) and another struggle began. My heart sank as I saw the guards try to take Taen's poisoned drink away. I clutched the handle of my hidden weapon and started to walk towards them. I tipped a second vial into my own drink. Taen drank half of hers as proof that her drink was untainted. I knew the poison was now moving through her system so I sped up my walk. I drained half of my own glass. Taen sat down next to our target and offered him the drink. He nodded stupidly as he watched her drink the rest of her own drink before kissing him deeply. I knew she was passing the poison onto him. I reached them and shouted in outrage.   
  
"How dare you!" I shouted at the politician. His bodyguards came to his immediate aid and pushed me back. I took another drink from my glass and yelled drunken curses at them. Taen pushed through the press of body's and quietly comforted me before kissing me. I passed the antidote that was contained in my own drink on to her. In drunken pride I grabbed her arm roughly before dragging her out of the hotel. We were out of the hotel about three seconds before Taen spat on the ground and wiped her mouth furiously.   
  
"The things I'll do for money." She muttered. I couldn't help but laugh. We walked back to our dispatch vehicle. Ten minutes later we were alone and I began talking.   
  
"Will the antidote work?" I asked Taen.  
  
"If not then I'd be dead by now." She replied.  
  
"Will the poison work?" I asked again.  
  
"I gave him enough to kill him and all of his bodyguards." She said confidently. I breathed in relief.  
  
"Well, wasn't that fun?" she asked me after a pause. I didn't reply.  
  
We got back to Garden the next day and were immediately summoned to a debriefing.   
  
"The mission was successful in all accounts. The target was neutralized without any suspicion falling on our part. It could be days before they figure out how he died. There were no other casualties." Taen droned to the council.  
  
"Well done. Your pay will be sent to your accounts. We will notify you if there is anything more that will become of this. You are dismissed." Said Illion in his concise manner. Taen and I left together before going our separate ways. "It's been a pleasure working with you." I said politely.   
  
"Back at ya, kid." She replied before walking off. I turned and immediately started walking to the training room. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop myself wishing that Josie had been with me on my first mission. I reached my destination only to find that Illion had somehow beaten me there.  
  
"So how was your first mission?" he asked when he saw me.  
  
"Successful on all accounts." I replied as I drew my gunblade.  
  
"So I've heard." He murmured. He pulled out his staff. "You know the council is very impressed with your work."  
  
"My work? I don't think so. Taen did most of it." I said before sending a fire spell at him. He brushed it away easily.  
  
"Never-the-less, we would like you to do another mission soon. Do you think you are up to it?"  
  
"Anytime." I sprung onto the attack. Illion fended me away before jumping back.  
  
"How did you find working with Taen?" he asked. He fired a spell of his own at me. I leapt aside.  
  
"She is very good at what she does." I attacked again this time without ceasing. I was becoming frustrated at being cross-examined. Hours later Illion announced that we were finished for the day and he left the room. Again alone, I continued to train, continuing towards my goal. Only minutes later I heard someone else enter. I turned to find Taen.   
  
"Wow, your a mess." She said, as tactless as always.  
  
"And you are here why?" I said, somewhat annoyed.   
  
"Well if you are going to be mean I'll just leave," apparently this was not an option "I heard some news today that I thought might interest you. Leon has apparently been attacking some of the SEED dispatches. He usually attacks groups of five or so. There was only one survivor out of the lot, who only survived because he wanted her to. Someone has to carry the news of death and destruction."  
  
"Is this news or gossip." I asked skeptically.  
  
"News. Do you really think I would come here if it was only gossip?" she asked indignity.  
  
"No. But why did you tell me?" I replied.  
  
"Well I just figured that since you seemed to be good pals with one of the council, you might be able to get yourself into a dispatch of, let's say, five or so." She said winking. "But you didn't hear it from me 'kay? It's top secret and not to be spread around." With this she left. The logical part of my mind warred with the vengeful part as I considered whether or not I should go to see Illion now.   
  
"I've waited for a year now. I can wait another day." I said out loud. With this I returned to my training.  
  
A month later and I was thoroughly frustrated. I had been dropping subtle and even not so subtle hints that I wanted to be back out on dispatch and yet the council seemed determined to keep me at the garden. The worst part was that I knew exactly why, but I couldn't bring it up without betraying Taen. Training with Illion left me tense but I still progressed. I was now equal with him in fighting, but he still was a much more powerful mage than I was. Just when I thought I couldn't handle it anymore, I received my second mission. Illion handed me a folder and again told me to memorize it. I opened it and began to read. Immediately I became enraged.   
  
"Alone!" I shouted. "You're sending me out alone!"  
  
"It wasn't just my decision and if you read the whole thing you would find that it only really requires one person." He said coolly.  
  
"But!" I started.  
  
"But what?" his eyes narrowed. Again I was forced into silence. "You will have your briefing tomorrow morning." I raged inwardly as he left the room. I read the rest of the folder, which only infuriated me more. I would be working for another anonymous party and my goal was to get an adamantine dagger. It was located in a giant building and I had been given explicit instructions not to leave the designated area under any circumstances. It could not have been clearer what these circumstances might be. Furious that I had again been kept away from Leon I continued training alone.  
  
The next morning found me in the briefing room after another long wait in the room before.   
  
"This is a simple mission that should be achieved with relative ease. You simply have to get the dagger. We have been informed that getting to the dagger may prove troublesome but it will be nothing that a trainee couldn't handle." This struck me as odd but I remained quiet.   
  
"You will not need any extra equipment and you will be transported the location tonight ready for a early start the next day. As is said in your brief, you must not leave or deviate from this task under any circumstances. You have heard the mission brief. Do you accept?" Illion asked. Before I answered I was dismissed. I went to the training room straight after. Illion was not here this time. He was not there when I left the room to get ready for my mission later that day either. Adding this to my stockpile of frustration I made my way to the parking lot for transportation.   
  
The building was just like it was described. Big and old. It looked closer to a giant ruin instead of a building. The only thing noteworthy was two stained glass windows at the very top, which seemed to overlook the nearby lake. There, I figured, was the dagger. I pushed open the giant metal doors. They were old and rusty and I had to strain to open them. I made my way to the centre of the room as I entered. It was relatively small and had little more that a couple of ancient statues lining it before another metal door. I moved over and pushed it. It didn't budge. I moved back to the front door to get my transporter only to find that it wouldn't open either. My patience was just about at its limit. My eyes blazed as I turned my attention to the four statues. On this examination I found that one was a little different to the others. The giant hands of the giant man that it depicted had a finger out of place. I pushed the finger back and the door leading further into the building clicked open. Feeling distinctly like I was playing a poor video game I moved through the door. I felt it slam behind me. I pushed it but it again wouldn't move. The room I had entered was pitch black. I felt my way along the mossy wall trying to feel if anything was out of place. It wasn't long before the wall turned and I felt my way to a staircase. I moved upwards until the stair ended. From the moment I left the last stair the room brightened. I drew my gunblade in surprise. I looked back at the staircase and could see only darkness. I put one foot on the stairs and found that I again couldn't see. I stepped back off and light again entered the room. I suddenly realized that there were no sources of light. It was simply there. A month of frustration meant that I didn't really care as much as I usually would have and so as I moved on. I had entered a huge room that had a huge metal wall leading upwards to a doorway. The wall was covered in horizontal slits barely twenty centremetres in length. I moved and examined one of them. A blade was suddenly pushed through a slit to my left. It moved so fast that it seemed to appear out of thin air. I leapt backwards as blades began appearing all over the wall. I stopped and studied this for a while. The blades would come out at a different length each time and would go back in after a while only to come out again later. Suddenly I figured what it was that I needed to do.   
  
"No way!" I shouted to thin air. "Trainee my ass!" Again I was hit with understanding. The person I was working for was a member of SEED or at least at garden. How else would they know what trainees were capable of? Again I found that I didn't really care. I muttered a few curses before drawing myself back to the task at hand. I watched the blades and tried to work out some sort of pattern. After half an hour of watching I was certain that there was none. What I did notice though was that a blade would not appear above, below or beside a blade that was already out. I also saw that the closer the blades came to the doorway at the top, the faster they withdrew. Shaking my head one last time, I cast a protect before running at the wall. I leapt onto the closest blade using it as a stepping stone to the next one. A blade suddenly appeared to my right and I leapt on it. Another blade appeared and I made my way higher still. Reflexes saved me countless times as I leapt from a withdrawing blade onto others that had only just appeared. I concentrated intensely on my next step. A few minutes later I saw with relief that I was only a few jumps to the top. Suddenly the blade I was standing on withdrew. My mind raced in the milisecond I had before I was falling. I float spell was on my lips before I realized that if I slowed my fall I would get skewered for sure. Instead I drew my blade. Timing was crucial. I thrusted at the wall putting my blade down one of the slits. I gasped in pain as I jerked to a stop. My shoulders were burning with pain but I knew I had to react before one of the blades I was in front of came out. A blade appeared to my left and I pulled myself onto it. Sheathing my blade, I once again began my slow progress to the top. Twenty minutes and three falls later I collapsed through the doorway. I was dripping with perspiration and my shoulders felt as though they had been ripped from their sockets. I was not in a good mood as I forced myself to sit up. I stayed long enough to regain my breath before I walked into a long corridor. I walked until I reached a flight of stairs leading to another corridor in the opposite direction. I groaned but began to walk again. This corridor lead to yet another staircase. Forcing my legs to move up the stairs, I entered a large room with a spiraling staircase in the centre. I looked up the spiral and couldn't see the top. Succumbing to exhaustion and frustration I sat back on the ground and muttered  
  
"It has giant walls with blades but no fricken lifts." I rested for what could have been a couple of minutes or a couple of hours. Time seemed to lose meaning in this place. When I felt up to it I started to tackle the giant set of stairs. For the first time since I entered this place, I found something that actually looked worse than it was. I entered a shadowed room that was lit only by the light that shone through the huge stained glass window. On a table in the middle of the room was a black dagger suspended in the air by a green aura. With a smile I walked over to it.   
  
"All this over a dagger" I murmured as I tried to grab the hilt. My hand passed straight through it.  
  
Recognizing it immediately as a hologram I spun and drew my gunblade.   
  
As I edged to the wall I shouted, "What's going on?" There was no answer. I put my back to the wall. "What's going on?" I repeated. Again no answer. I stayed completely still as I studied the room. I remained this way for several minutes.   
  
"Why don't you check the dagger again?" Said a mocking voice. "You're pretty good you know. I was expecting to get a few failed attempts at the wall before someone got through."   
  
"Failed attempts? A failed attempt means death you..." I stopped as comprehension hit me. "Leon!" I shouted.   
  
"Damn. How did you know? Was it the trainee thing? I bet it was. Oh well I'd better give you what you came for." He drew his gunblade. It was glowing a slight green. He walked into the light he was dressed the same way as I had ever seen him. In fact the only difference in his appearance at all was the thin scar that ran across his face.  
  
"I see you're admiring the mark that your little friend gave me. Still, I can't help but think that I got the better part of that deal." He laughed loudly and his mythril blade glowed brighter. He threw the black dagger on the floor. My hands were trembling with rage. The fatigue of the day was ignored as my lust for revenge took over my body. I pulled back my blade and leapt at him. He pulled back his own blade. We clashed with a loud ring. With amazing speed he disengaged and swung at my head. I ducked under the blow and thrusted at his mid-section. With a flick of the wrist he knocked my blade away. My rage took complete control as I slashed wildly at him. He parried each blow but was forced backwards. I took a step backwards and, with a cry of rage, put my weight behind a thrust at his throat. He ducked and spun away. With a hand outstretched he drew energy. I drew energy of my own into a shell then leapt at him.   
  
"Fira!" Leon shouted as a wave of immense heat leapt towards me. I hit the flames head on and kept going. Leon dived away in alarm as my blade slashed over his head. As I took stance he regained his feet and brushed himself off.   
  
"Not bad. You're much better than I was at your age. There was enough power in your shell to take my spell easily. I bet the council is very pleased with your progress." He said casually but his gunblade had lost its glow. I paid absolutely no attention at his words at all. I sent a quick thunder spell crackling towards him. It was easily nullified but I leapt in after it. Leon parried before launching his own attack. He sent a flurry of thrusts in my direction as I leapt aside. Again I attacked and again I was fended off. This time Leon struck first. He thrusted at my mid-section. I spun forward and swung my own blade at his head. Instinct saved him as he rolled away. Again he casually brushed himself off before taking his stance. Despite his cocky attitude I could see that he was sweating. With a cry, he attacked. He swung his blade low and hard. Knowing better than to try and parry, I leapt over it and landed a kick in his chest. Leon gasped in pain before renewing his attack. He assaulted me with a barrage of fira spells that I nimbly dodged. Again he attacked and we both joined the true fight. Our blades were blurs as we battled for an advantage over the other. Our blades clashed loud enough to make my ears ring but my rage carried me beyond the limit of my endurance. As I back-flipped under a slash at my head, we parted. The last of my anger ebbed away to be replaced by exhaustion. I quickly took stock. My legs seemed to be groaning in the outrage of standing and I could barely lift my blade. Although he still had his cocky swagger, a slight tremble of Leon's legs and a loosening of grip on the handle of his blade told me that he was exhausted too. We advanced on each other only stopping within striking range. In unison drew back our blades. With sudden ferocity that made my limbs scream in protest I spun and put the last of my strength into an upward slash at Leon's head. Leon had done much the same, only downward. Our blades clashed for a moment before I felt the resistance of Leon's green blade dissipate, and my blade continue upward. I let momentum carry me around and I collapsed to me knees. Relief flooded me as I felt sure that I had at last got my revenge. Finally Josie death had been avenged. I heard a blade fall to the ground. I felt hot tears roll down my face and I used a hand to wipe them away. I found it bloody. Confusion hit as I felt the pain of the cut on my face at last. I wheeled in confusion and found that Leon was still standing and grinning widely. His blade was illuminating the room in its sickly green light.  
  
"Don't tell me you still use the gunblade that garden gives you?" I looked at the handle that I was gripping and saw the rest of my blade on the floor. Common sense prevailed as I realized that my own blade had done well to survive against mythril as long as it had. I stood up quickly and took my martial arts stance. Leon laughed evilly. His blade grew brighter and his fatigue seemed to disappear as he walked towards me. Knowing that I didn't stand a chance without a blade I edged towards the door only to find it locked.   
  
"Oh come on. Use your brains. Even if you did get through that door you wouldn't have a chance at getting back down the wall." Leon taunted. A sudden calmness quenched my fears.   
  
"I will not die today," I murmured to him. "I will not die unless you're lying in the grave next to me."   
  
"I'm afraid I'm not giving you a choice." He said, smiling wider. I felt my fatigue give way to another feeling, a primitive determination to live. Leon continued to advance. With a cry of pure effort I emptied the energy from my untouched reserves and fashioned them into a spell.   
  
"Firaga!" I shouted as a ball of flame erupted from my open palms. Leon's face lost its cruel grin and changed to one of uttermost concentration as he drew on his own reserves to create a shell. My spell hit him and for a few moments it battled with his barrier. Leon cried in outrage and exhaustion as he battled to create his shell faster than my spell destroyed it. This was all I needed. I forced my legs into a run as I moved past him. I slowed down only slightly to pick up the black dagger on the floor. I threw it at the giant stained glass window. It shattered moments before I dived through.  
  
Fear gripped me as I saw how high I was. The lake seemed a long way down. The discipline I had been taught by Illion paid off as I resisted the urge drift into unconsciousness. I focused my mind and drew energy before casting a float spell. I felt myself slow down.   
  
"Not enough!" I shouted. I saw the dagger was next to me and snatched it. At least they can't complain that I didn't stick to my mission, I thought wildly. I stuck my hands and legs out as wide as I could and forced myself into a spin. Again I slowed down slightly. Faster and faster I spun until the effort made me cry out in pain. I felt the air rip at my limbs for what seemed like hours. Suddenly I hit the water. The impact forced the air from my lungs and almost made me lose consciousness. I opened my eyes and wheeled in panic. Exhaustion and lack of air had left me disorientated. Again discipline paid off as I dropped the dagger that I held. I watched the direction it fell and suddenly the world spun into perspective. I grabbed the dagger again and swam towards the surface. My lungs were screaming with pain and my arms and legs begged for a break but still I swam. As suddenly as I had entered it, my head broke the surface. I took in the first few painful breaths before I again began to swim, this time towards the shore. A few minutes later I crawled up the bank. The next hour become a haze of pain as I walked, crawled then dragged myself to my mission dispatch. I saw my transporter say something before running towards me. I fell into darkness. My last feeling was one of shame. I had just gotten my chance, and I had failed. 


	4. The Hunt

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything (which I doubt anyone will) at least get my permission first.  
  
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A/N: Wow I can't believe I got this chapter done so fast. So far I've gotten a good response from the two people who seem to be reading this story so I will definitely post it as I write it. If there is anyone else out there who is reading this please review me, good or bad. Anyway here is my next chapter, don't expect another one for quite a while though.  
  
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I awoke in my room. Tenderly getting up, I pulled on a uniform. I grabbed for my sheath before I realized that it was empty. Reaching up to my face, I felt a bandage covering my gash. I stumbled towards the door and opened it. One of the SEEDs that guarded the council's door was standing beside it.  
  
"How do you feel?" he asked.  
  
"A bit drowsy." I answered.  
  
"I am to escort you to the council as soon as you are able."  
  
"We'd better get going then." We had walked to the lift before I asked. "How long was I out?"  
  
"Since last time? About twelve hours." he responded before pulling me onto the lift.  
  
"Last time? What's that mean?"  
  
"I was told to put you to sleep again if you were still sore. Sorry." As he said it, vague memories of this came back to me. He didn't seem too sorry at the time. The lift stopped and I was led through to the waiting room. I was called in immediately. The entire council was again present.   
  
Not wasting any time for tradition, Illion asked, "What happened?"  
  
"Leon," I answered drowsily. "He sent the request. It seems that he was attempting to kill off anyone that was sent out. Anyone who entered would not be able to leave and would eventually make their way to the wall." I explained what the wall was. "If by chance someone did make it up the wall, Leon would be waiting for them at the top. He asked for low quality members so that they would die at the wall. Eventually a strong member would be sent and he would kill them." There was a brief moment of quiet before the council suddenly began whispering to each other.   
  
"How, then, did you survive?" a woman asked. I replayed the fight between Leon and I. I noticed the dagger on the table.   
  
"Can I ask if the dagger is important?" I asked.  
  
"It's worthless." She answered, throwing it to me. I put it in my belt.  
  
"That will be all, you are dismissed." Illion said to me.  
  
"I would like to talk to the council about a matter of some importance." I said formally. At this the council all stopped what they were doing to look at me. Illion was unreadable as he assented.  
  
"I want to leave the garden." I said evenly. I watched the council as all expressions turned to outrage. I had to stop myself from laughing.  
  
"You know the rules." Illion said finally. "You can't leave the garden until you have served in SEED for as long as you trained to become one."   
  
"I know but I don't think that I can do what is required of me. If I were to see Leon again during mission, I would not be able to hold it in the highest priority. I would endanger my quest and engage him." Again the council whispered to each other.  
  
"Could you excuse us for a while?" Illion asked me. I walked out. Almost half an hour later I was called back through the door. Three members looked at me angrily while another three looked content. Obviously there had been an argument and a vote. Illion was, of course, neutral.  
  
"We have decided that you may leave if you wish. But we do have an offer for you." Illion said.  
  
"I decline." I said before turning to leave.  
  
"I strongly urge you to listen to the offer first." Illion called. I stopped and turned.  
  
"OK I'm listening." I said after a pause.  
  
"Leon is starting to become a nuisance for garden. We want to you complete one last mission before you leave. This mission will be special, given to you by us. Your mission will be to kill Leon. Garden will spare no expense towards this cause, starting firstly with a new gunblade of the finest make. You will continue to be trained not only by me, but the elite fighters in all of garden. You have heard your mission brief. Do you accept?" My heart leapt and I answered immediately.  
  
"I do. But I have to ask you something else. Why me? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to send your elite SEEDs out instead?"  
  
"You have hit the nail on the head. I have no doubt that all you have told is true, that you did indeed match Leon at the height of his powers. He will know this and will spend his time training for the day that garden sends it elite's. He will be prepared and he will win. Your rage and determination will make you stronger than even he can imagine. I believe that no one but you can win this fight." I nodded slightly. Illion had told me more than I had asked. He had told me that not all of the council had supported this and some had even doubted that I had even fought Leon. I was dismissed and walked from the room.  
  
The very next day an order for a mythril gunblade was sent to the finest craftsman still living. In a matter of minutes, all my hopes and dreams had been brought to life. Finally I was given tutors that would train me for as long as I wanted them to. In addition to Illion, who continued to train me in the magics, I was given two other trainers. The first was Dane, a huge, burly man that did not seem to have an ounce of fat on his entire body. He had short black hair, a constantly tanned complexion and hard, piercing eyes. He was also covered in scars. For his size and strength he was unbelievably quick and was regarded as the one of the best fighters in the world. His lessons were hard and failure was not looked upon lightly but my skills thrived under the conditions. To my great surprise, Taen would be my final trainer. It took only a couple of training sessions with her for me to realize that even though I had great respect for her abilities, I was seriously underestimating her. She was a master with her daggers, throwing them or fighting with them, and in anything less then absolute light, she seemed to be able to become invisible at will. She could do anything she needed to without making even the slightest sound and in the pitch-black conditions that we trained in, she was a ghost. For the first few months, my training under Dane was hindered by my lack of a weapon, but soon after I received a package. It contained my new blade. I tested it out immediately and found that it was incredibly light. The white handle fitted my hand shape to the finest detail and the clear blade had such a fine point and edge that when I dropped it, it sunk down to the hilt. With this arrival my training began in earnest. I was constantly being pushed past my own limits, as I would not allow myself to stop unless I was unconscious or badly hurt. The slash across my face that I got from Leon had healed into a scar almost exactly the same as his own, only it went in a different direction. It was a constant reminder of the task I had ahead of me. The teachings of mind, body and self-control continued every day for the next year. At the end of this time I had mastered several new magics, could beat Dane convincingly and could hold my own against Taen in any conditions. In all I could barely recognize the person I had become. This didn't matter, just so long as I could complete my mission.   
  
My bare feet felt the dirt between my toes. I crept along silently, holding my dagger firmly. I strained my every sense, trying to find a sign of my opponent's whereabouts. A sudden movement in the brush made me stand perfectly still. I had learnt the hard way why you should never jump at every noise. I circled the spot carefully, looking for any signs of movement. There was none. The moon shone through the trees overhead, simultaneously being my best friend and worst enemy. Another noise behind me made me whirl in alarm. Cringing at my mistake, I leapt soundlessly into the tree above me. Less than a second later, a plastic throwing knife flew through the spot I had just vacated. Knowing that Taen was expertly narrowing down the possible places I could be hiding, I leapt to the next tree. Hundreds of hours training made this silent. I lowered myself slowly, taking care not to let my body come between the gaps in the trees. This would almost surely give me away. Again on the ground, I scanned the area that the dagger had come from. Not surprisingly, I didn't see anything. Back to square one, I started walking again, sticking in the shadows. Without warning, a figure leapt from a tree. Instead of my common mistake of backing up, I thrust my dagger forward, forcing Taen to change her direction. We squared off and began to circle. Suddenly Taen threw another of her plastic knives. I spun away and faced her again. She was gone. I resisted the urge to swear, I had learnt this the hard way too. Immediately I was on the move. I was now faced with the fact that Taen would know where I was but I was still in the dark about her. I jumped into the tree above. I changed direction and jumped from tree to tree, back the way I came. I changed direction again and then backtracked again. I repeated twice more before I was sure that I had lost her. I leapt from the trees. I had barely landed when I felt an arm wrap around my neck and a blade press against my throat. This time I did swear. I took a small token of satisfaction that Taen was breathing heavily.  
  
"Good job. Anyone that could catch you after that deserves to kill you." She said as she let me go.  
  
"You caught me didn't you?" I said.  
  
"Yeah, but I'm very good at this. That's what I'm here for." She said with a smile. "Well you've learnt all that I can teach you. You just need a bit of experience. Come on, let's go inside." I followed as she walked away.  
  
We were back in the training rooms before Taen talked again.   
  
"We have to talk." She said, as serious as I had ever heard her. "I've taught you all that I can about the physical side of my trade but I've neglected the more important part." I started to talk but she interrupted. "Let me tell you what I need to tell you before you talk. I don't think you'll be doing too much assassinating in the future but if you ever did then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." She paused for a long while before sitting down. "You can't let it get to you. You have to find a way to detach yourself from what you have to do." She saw my confused face. "Look, I know you, or at least I think I do. You're righteous and honorable. I just need to tell you that you might not only get missions that are righteous and honorable."   
  
"Oh, really. Like what." I asked curiously. I saw the look on her face and wish I hadn't.  
  
"I've done things that would make your hair curl. Things I would rather forget then not. If you never believe anything I say again, believe this, you would be better off not knowing." She answered softly. "The most important thing to your life as a SEED is the mission. It doesn't matter if you have to murder, maim, rape, torture, abuse or be abused by someone. So long as you complete the mission, the council will be happy. What I need to say is that you have to distance yourself from this. Keep your ideals and your missions separate and find some way to cope. For me, I become as different as I possibly can to what I am like as a SEED on dispatch." She stood and in a very grim voice said, "Do you know that despite myself, I have been intimate with more men than women, all of which were when I was on dispatch? I have had to kill every one of them for the sake of the mission. Some were bastards but most were decent guys that didn't deserve to die. If my two lives collided, I would go insane with the guilt. At this garden I am a lesbian and occasionally a slut, but compared to what else I am, those are two very pretty words." She patted me on the back and walked away. I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. I marveled at the fact that in a matter of minutes my view of everything changed. No longer was Balamb garden an honorable place lead by the wisest of the wise. It was a place built with the sole purpose of making money. I silently swore a vow that before I left SEED, I would change that.  
  
On my way to the training room the next morning, a SEED from the waiting room intercepted me.  
  
"The council wishes to see you." He said as we met. I allowed him to escort me to the lift and into the room. I was given a seat and told to wait. Thoroughly annoyed that I was called up here only to be told to wait, I sat down. Ten minutes later I was called through. Illion again did most of the talking.   
  
"It has been a year since you began the training needed for you to complete your mission. I have collaborated with your other tutors and we have decided that you are ready for the task that lies ahead of you." He said. I watched the reaction of the council but most were icy. Illion handed me a thick folder. "In there is all the information on all the attacks Leon has made on SEED dispatches starting with the most recent." I opened it and read the first page. I almost dropped it as I saw the date on the first entry. I flipped to the next, and the one after that.   
  
"Leon has been attacking while I was training!" I shouted, in sudden rage. Illion didn't answer.  
  
"As per the terms of the mission, you will have access to anything and anyone you think necessary to complete your mission. All spare time you have will be put towards further training. You will meet with the council monthly and will report to us if anything important happens. You are dismissed." He said instead. I glared briefly at him before storming from the room. Once in the privacy of my dorm I thoroughly read through each case. Each one spurred my need for revenge to new heights. Leon had killed over three hundred SEEDs. To each one he had given a scar exactly like mine marking their face. The garden had felt the loss of every one of them as its profits began to drop. To combat this, the council had been advancing the better of the trainees to SEEDs. None of these lasted past their third mission. The council began to post high-class SEEDs in some of the simpler missions, hoping that they could stop Leon. None of these dispatches was ever attacked. For the rest of the day I separated the attacks into categories, desperately trying to find some sort of pattern. I tried everything I could think of but I didn't find any. Leon's attacks seemed to be completely at random. I began thinking of ways to combat this. The elites were spread far too thin and the dispatches were far too many to all be protected. Stopping the dispatches couldn't be done without driving garden into the ground financially. For the rest of the night I studied the file trying to find something that could be done. With a final resignation that I would not find the solution tonight, I fell asleep.  
  
I dreamt of Leon. He and I were standing in black nothingness that seemed without end. He stood with his gunblade drawn, its blade glowing dully. Surprised to see him I shouted out. I didn't hear my own voice but rather knew that I had said it. Leon laughed. Again there was no noise but somehow I knew exactly what it sounded like. In a rage I ran at him. He didn't move and yet he drew away. I shouted at him again before picking up the pace. He laughed and his blade grew brighter as he moved further away. I ran faster and faster, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch him and he disappeared from sight. I kept running, desperate to catch up. Breathing heavily I finally stopped and looked around. I was surrounded by darkness that seemed to have no meaning. I looked about and lost my reference point. Suddenly I didn't know where I was. I was moving, still, flying and falling at the same time. I wheeled in a panic. I looked down at the blade that I held and found that there was none. There wasn't even a hand. I looked down at myself and found that I didn't exist. I shouted a soundless cry. I awoke with the sudden feeling of doom. Using techniques that Illion had taught me, I put the dream into the back of my mind. The feeling that came with it though, remained.  
  
I woke the next morning with a solution. I dressed quickly before routinely tying my belt and sheath around my waist. The adamantine dagger took its new place in the belt. I left the room in a rush and was soon taking the lift to the third floor. I entered the waiting room and told one of the guards that I requested an audience with the council. He stepped through the door. A few minutes later he returned.   
  
"The council will see you shortly. Take a seat." He said monotonously. I did so and waited. Ten minutes late I was called through. All members were in attendance.   
  
"You have called this meeting so we are assuming you have something important to tell us." Illion began.  
  
"Yes. I have a solution. I would like to put together a team of trackers. We will follow Leon's attacks and chase him down." I said briefly.  
  
"What will you require?" Illion asked.  
  
"I would require a team of five other people, the best trackers we have. Also I would like every dispatch to carry a radio or something that they could use to tell us that they are being attacked. A fast vehicle would also come in handy." I said pointedly.  
  
"It is done. I would recommend that Taen be your lead tracker and to let her choose the other four." Illion said in a disguised command.  
  
"Sounds good." I murmured.  
  
"You are dismissed. And good luck." Illion said as I turned and walked from the room.  
  
It was a mission in itself just to find Taen, which resulted in me being led to several girls dorms before I found the right one.   
  
"This had better be good." She complained as I led to her own room. I didn't answer until we got there.  
  
"Get ready, we have work to do." I took ten minutes for the transformation from normal Taen to dispatch Taen to be completed.   
  
"Alright, what's up." She said as she left her room. I explained our task.  
  
"So I need you to find four more trackers." I said in conclusion.  
  
"You should have told me before." She said as she spun on her heels. She led me back to the room that I had found her.   
  
"Oi, get up, it's mission time!" she yelled at a closed door. "Meet me in the parking lot as soon as possible!" She led me around the garden and found another girl and two guys that would be making up our team. She found each effortlessly. In half an hour we had our team assembled and lined up in the parking lot. I briefed them all and noticed that if any of them was angry that a fifteen-year-old was leading them, they hid it well. Not long after this an attendant found us and led us to our vehicle. It was big enough to hold us all comfortably but I was told that it could definitely move quickly enough for our purposes. Taen pointed to a man who looked to be in his thirties.   
  
"Squad leader, may I recommend that Joel is our driver." Taen asked formally. I assented before making each of the team take an oath that they would not, unless under the gravest of circumstances, engage Leon and would instead run for their life. I also made them promise never to call me squad leader or other any variation of that. It wasn't long after that we were on the road.  
  
It took another month before our operation could begin in earnest. By that time every dispatch that was sent out had a means of communicating with us. So far two more of Leon's attacks had been discovered. Each was a grisly scene, days old and impossible to analyze. It was two weeks later before we received our first distress call. It came from a small team of rookies on dispatch to the country town of Winhill. Taen's driver turned out to be a genius behind the wheel. He had a huge knowledge of geography, and could take us where we needed to go in a matter of hours. Almost two hours later we arrived at the place of distress. It was a clearing on the edge of a forest. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that lay in front of me. Six young cadets, barely as old as I was, were literally disemboweled. From the look of agony on their faces, I knew they had been alive when it happened. Each sported the typical scar across the face. Only my pure rage kept me from hurling. I turned to find that my team was watching me. I realized that they were waiting for orders.   
  
"If we're going to catch him, every second counts." Taen said to me.  
  
"Right" I whispered. "Has he left a trail?"  
  
"Yes. It's obvious so he either doesn't care if he is followed or it is false trail. He might have concealed the way he really went." She answered immediately.  
  
"OK, who can follow the trail we have?" I asked.  
  
"I think even you could follow it if you tried hard enough." She said quickly.  
  
"OK take the next two best trackers and scan the area for a hidden trail. The other two will lead me." With no further conversation Joel and another man leapt off towards the trees. I followed at full pace. We raced through the forest, only stopping if the trail was lost. It ended at a small stream. It went in one side, and apparently never came out. We searched the bank for a hundred metres either side but we didn't find anything. Miserably, I followed my guides back to where we started. I took a short glance at Taen who shook her head slightly. One last look at bloody scene was all I could handle and I called everyone back to the vehicle. I made a sorry report back to garden over the intercom system that we had set up and more SEED were dispatched to complete the mission and deal with the bodies. Guilt washed over me as I gave the order to drive away. I made a promise to myself: that Leon would pay for every single life he had taken.  
  
And so the hunt began. We followed the random attacks that took us from one side of the continent to the other. We used computerized equipment to find the most likely spot for the next attack but, when a distress call was made, we were usually more than an hour away. We were always too late. We trained in the spare time we had, preparing for the day that we would catch our prey. That day did not come. The brutality of the attacks was increasing steadily, the pain on the victim's face, clearly evident. I couldn't follow Taen's advice and detach myself from the carnage. Every death I found drove me deeper into obsession, into black-hearted rage. I could feel it happen but I wanted it, I craved the moment we would meet again. After all, wasn't it my fault for not killing him when I had the chance? There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Leon's attacks. Sometimes we were left waiting for a month while other times there were two attacks in two days. Despite fighting a losing battle, my lust for revenge enticed me to keep up the chase for a whole year. It was during our fortieth failed attempt that Taen cornered me.  
  
"You have to let this go." She said forcefully.  
  
"No. We have to find him." I answered.  
  
"I know, but this isn't the way to do it. We have been chasing him for over a year now and we are no closer to finding him then the day we started!" she shouted.  
  
"We don't go back until I say so. I must complete my mission." I said coldly. She stared at me like I was a stranger.  
  
"Can't you hear yourself? You're obsessed! You continue with this pointless undertaking even though you know it won't work." I looked at her blankly. She shook her head and said slowly. "Take us back to garden. If you don't give the order, I will." With this she walked away. I opened my palms and drew energy. I fashion it into a thundara spell. It had almost crackled into existence before I realized what I was doing. I stared at the back of my hand in horror. My thoughts raced. I would never want to hurt Taen, and yet wasn't I just about to? My heart sank as I realized that she was right. I should have turned back a long time ago. We had made near to no progress and the attacks hadn't stopped what-so-ever. I had wasted time that could have been spent thinking of a new solution. I had as good as killed the people I was trying to protect. But most of all I saw that my rage was driving me insane. Guilt-stricken, I lowered my arm and walked slowly back to our vehicle. I couldn't look at the bodies of the people I had failed so I shut my eyes as I passed them.   
  
My voice was barely a whisper as I said to Joel "Take us home."  
  
A day later we were back at garden. I left Taen to give the debriefing to the council as I walked around the corridor to my dorm. I saw at once that there was a distinct lack of people in SEED uniforms. It seemed that every available SEED was on dispatch. I reached my room and slung my dagger and sheath on the floor before collapsing onto my bed. My conscience would not let me sleep so I stared at the roof, letting my thoughts do their worst. In front of my very eyes hundreds of young SEEDs lay dead, each with a scar identical to mine marking their face. Wave after wave of guilt hit me. If I had beaten Leon when I had the chance, if I had realized that our efforts to catch him were futile and if I had not let my anger cloud my judgment, each one of them would still be alive. I lost track of time, as my mind became a whirlwind of despair. So many deaths. What turned out to be days later, Taen knocked on my door and asked me to let her in. I didn't answer. She came in anyway and sat down on the edge of my bed.  
  
"There's been another attack." She said quietly. I ignored her. "A group of eight, most on their first, some on their second mission. You don't want to know the other details." Still I didn't answer. Suddenly Taen jumped up and dragged me to her feet.   
  
"Listen. You made a mistake. Get over it." she said. I looked past her to the images of death that continued to plague me. Suddenly my sight exploded in a flash of lights and the side of my face started stinging. Taen had punched me.   
  
"Listen to me you self-indulgent bastard! I have been following a trail of dead bodies for the last year. If you think that doesn't affect me then you're crazy. If I thought I could stand half a chance against Leon, I wouldn't be here! Illion seems to think you're the only one that can bring him down and I know better then to doubt him." She seemed lost for words for a second. "You'd better not let him get away." She threatened finally before she walked away. I blinked a few times to clear my vision before I walking to the training room. Taen was right again.  
  
Illion was there waiting for me. I smiled when I saw him.   
  
"How did you know?" I asked him.   
  
"Perhaps I'll teach you one day." he answered. "Now tell me, what's your next step?"  
  
"I don't know." I said frowning. "What do you think I should do?"  
  
"If I knew then I would have told you. The council and I have discussed it and can find no resolution."  
  
"So when the wisest of the wise fail, a sixteen year old is called in?" I said ironically.  
  
"Sometimes a new perspective is needed. I can give you only one piece of advice. Think about what it is you don't know rather than thinking what it is you need to know." He said. I frowned again.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"What is it that you need to do?" he asked.  
  
"Kill Leon." I answered.  
  
"Why can't you do that?"  
  
"Because I can't find him."  
  
"Why can't you find him?"  
  
"Because his attacks are random. We never know where he will strike next."  
  
"Are they completely random?" I thought about this for a moment.  
  
"No. He only attacks group without protection."  
  
"How does he know which groups are without protection?" Illion asked finally.  
  
"I don't know." Was my only answer.  
  
"So the question that you need to answer is how does he know when to attack, not how do I kill Leon." As always Illion's logic was solid. I barely noticed as he walked away. There I stayed until the sun was well truly set before finally retiring back to my room.  
  
Again sleep would not come, only this time it was because of a strange feeling that I was finally on the right track. How does he know where to attack, I asked myself. Because he is following the dispatches? No that's ridiculous. Because he has some device that lets him know where SEED dispatches were? No, even if he did he wouldn't know which ones were protected. My inward questioning continued through most the night, each answer becoming more and more unlikely. Yet I would not give up. The answer was niggling the back of my mind just aching to get out. Suddenly it was there. It was a weird feeling. Where there was once nothing, something had appeared. The answer was so obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it earlier. More than anything I wished that I was wrong, but it was the sole way that everything could be explained. I got up and dressed quickly, barely stopping to tie my sheath and slide in the black dagger, before heading straight to the training room. I hoped Illion would know that I was there. I walked through the deserted corridor to the training room. When I got there I sat down and waited, praying that I could find some fault with my idea. Illion arrived soon after.  
  
"You have something to tell me?" he said with seemingly endless patience.  
  
"Yes. I think I know how Leon knows where our dispatches are."  
  
"How?" he asked.  
  
"Someone is telling him." I said slowly.  
  
"Impossible. Only the council knows the details of each mission." He said shaking his head. I smiled at him.  
  
"Are you implying that...that one of the council is feeding him information?" he asked incredulously.   
  
"That's right." I answered.  
  
"No. It's not possible. Each person has taken an oath to protect the garden and its students." He said confidently.  
  
"Think about it. It's the only way Leon could know. An oath is easily broken and even easier to bend."   
  
Illion shook his head one last time before saying "What have you got planned?"  
  
I watched as the storm clouds rolled in. I wondered briefly whether they were somehow manifested by the battle of self-control that raged inside of me before turning my attention to the task at hand. I was in Dollet, standing in the debris of the ancient radio tower. Most of it had been cleared away, resulting in a huge flat, but there were still huge chunks of metal lying around. I had worked like a demon to prepare this 'mission'. A dispatch of ten first time SEEDs were to come here to find a piece of old machinery for an anonymous person. It was an offer that Leon could not refuse. Only Illion and I knew that no such group was sent out. Just me. Suddenly I heard the soft crunching of shoes across the rocky road and an almost joyous whistle. I protested against every part of my body as I kept myself still. I looked over my hiding place to see Leon, strolling across the plain. He found the piece of machinery and grabbed at it. His hand passed right through. A moment of shock and confusion lined his face before he started laughing.  
  
"Why don't you try it again?" I shouted as I emerged from the shadows. My voice quivered with emotion.  
  
"Well done. Very well done. I must say that I would have never expected. The mage wouldn't have told you this. You must have done it all by yourself." Leon said casually. We drew our gunblades in unison. I saw with shock that Leon's had changed. Instead of the regular blade, the edge had become jagged, more like a saw than my own blade.  
  
"Ah I see you noticed. It wasn't my idea and I didn't have it done. It just seemed to change over time. It started so gradually that I didn't notice at first. But the more of your friends I killed, the more it changed. I named it their memory: 'Pain'." he said cruelly. His blade had begun to glow and now it bathed the field in a horrible green. The scar on my head began aching and I reached up to find it had somehow reopened. My anger battled to surface at the outrage of his words. A drop of blood from my forehead dropped off my cheek and onto the floor at my feet. I looked down at it and wondered how many of the others Leon had killed had done the same thing. Suddenly I snapped.   
  
I pointed my own blade at him and shouted, "It ends today! You have killed for the last time." Images flashed before my eyes and I watched in shocking clarity as young SEEDs moaned in agony before dying. I watched as Josie fell to the ground never to rise again. All my self-control slipped away as my rage swallowed me whole. I felt sudden warmth in my hand as my mythril blade erupted in a blood-red light.   
  
Power filled my body as I shouted "YOU WILL DIE." I noticed that the intensity of the light from my own blade matched Leon's as we leapt at each other. With strength I had never before possessed, I swung my blade. It clashed with Leon's, the impact resulting in large white sparks. We disengaged our blades and struck again. He slashed at me, looking to rip open my chest with the jagged edge of his blade. I imagined hundreds of SEEDs meeting this fate as I leapt back. I threw my weight behind a thrust at his throat. He ducked under my blade and slashed again at my chest. I spun to the side and hacked downward at his back. A protect spell saved him. We withdrew and stared at each other. I found myself unable and, in truth, not wanted to restrain my lust for revenge. My eyes were glancing around frantically taking in all the details. Still images of death obscured my mind. Suddenly my vision became blurred. It began to rain. Leon smiled and sent a thundara spell towards me. It lanced across the droplets in the air causing it to disperse into nothing.  
  
"I hope you don't specialize in thunder spells." He said pointlessly. I ignored him as I cast a fira spell. I heard the water particles sizzle as I drew back my blade and leapt after it. Leon protected himself with a reflect spell which caused me to dive aside. I was on my feet in a heartbeat and we were running at each other once more. I leapt forward at the last moment and thrust my blade forward, looking to catch him in the chest. Leon stepped aside and, had I stopped running, I would have found myself with a cut spinal cord. In a shower of white sparks, our blades clashed again as we contested our strength for a moment. In unison we leapt backwards. I felt a bead of sweat or blood roll down my face, but I didn't feel pain or exhaustion. Only rage. With a primitive shout I attacked again. The overcast sky lit up with lightning. Leon parried before launching his own attack. I ducked and swept low. He jumped into the air and pointed his blade downward, looking to impale me. I rolled away. I saw Leon's blade pierce the hard ground easily and he yanked it out.   
  
"You've been taught well. You have gone far in two years." He said. "But you will meet the same fate as the girl."  
  
"I will not! I refuse to! It is because of her that you will die!" I shouted as my bloodlust soared. More power filled my body as I attacked again. My blade was a flash of red as I slashed at Leon. Our blades clashed yet again as he parried. He riposted quickly, but my blade seemed to move by itself as it parried. With complete disregard for my own life I tried to drive my blade into his chest. Had I been successful, I would have got a blade in my own chest and we would have both died. I didn't care. The look on Leon's face, however, told me he did. My face split into an evil grin as I realized that for the first time, I had an advantage over him. He wanted to live. I ran at him, slashing my blade wildly. He backed up. Again I rushed him, point forward. He would be able to kill me for sure, but momentum would carry through and he would die too. He was forced to give way.   
  
"What's the matter Leon? I'm giving you all the opportunities you need. Kill me." I said with a laugh.  
  
"You're mad." He said quietly.   
  
"Am I? It can't be any more than you, murderer" I snarled.  
  
"One day you will see that I am not." He said calmly.  
  
"You have to die today. You've killed hundreds. One more isn't going to change much. Besides I might not be able to beat you. Better to make sure." I said as I launched another attack. He joined in and the battle of rage and pain was truly joined. I attacked furiously; my life would be worth it if I could kill him. Leon fought back with equal determination to live. Our blades clashed again and again, the white sparks being extinguished loudly by the rain. Lightning lanced across the sky with intensity matching our furious battle. Reflexes born from being attacked in the dark took over as my anger pushed my speed and skill to new limits. Leon leapt back desperate for a break. I didn't let him get it as I ran forward and swept my blade downward at his head. He blade joined mine at the top of its arch. We contested our might for a moment. Suddenly I let go of my blade with my left hand and dropped it to the adamantine dagger in my belt. Leon's blade continued upward as it pushed mine away. I grabbed my dagger and slashed at his exposed mid-section. I felt it bite deeply. Leon again leapt backwards and this time I let him. His grey shirt showed a red line of blood where my dagger had cut him. We both watched as it steadily grew bigger. Leon sunk to his knees in exhaustion.   
  
"I bet you wish you never gave me this dagger?" I said cruelly. He tried to regain his composure but failed miserably. I walked slowly and stood in front of him. He looked up to me as I put my blood-red blade to his throat.  
  
"Kill me then." He said quietly. I laughed. I lifted my blade and reopened the scar that Josie had given him.   
  
"That's for Josie." I taunted. I kneed him in the head. He fell sprawled on the floor. I stood on the gash on his chest and he shouted in pain.   
  
"I'm not going slit your throat. You don't deserve it." I said with sudden inspiration. He pulled himself to his feet. Before he could so much as try to defend himself I walked up to him and slashed his chest again with my dagger. He fell to the ground with a bloodied cross marking him his chest. Slowly he got to his feet and put in a final effort. His pain made his blade work sloppy and he lacked the intensity he had once possessed. I noticed that his blade was no longer glowing. I took great pleasure in driving my dagger into his leg and pushing back to the ground.  
  
"What I am going to do is let you sit there and bleed to death." With a moan of pain he tried to regain his feet before collapsing in blood-loss and exhaustion. I turned my back and left.  
  
I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I thought that my guilt and sorrow would simply disappear with Leon's defeat. It didn't. My pain continued until I could figure out what it was that I had to do. I visited Josie grave. I stood over the small concrete block for a few moments before my grief finally surfaced. I collapsed to my knees as tears streamed down my cheeks. I lent over the simple slab for several minutes trying to say something important. I tried to say that I loved her and that I had killed Leon. I tried to say that I had become everything I had ever dreamed of being and that I was powerful beyond any imagination I had concealed as a child. I tried to talk about my successful first mission with Taen and how we had become friends. I even tried to tell her about my incredible failure.   
  
In the end, the only words that came out were, "I miss you." I drew my gunblade and placed it on the stone. I noticed for the first time that it had changed. As well as the more noticeable color change, it had become longer, more upswept and curved. It had become a truly efficient killing weapon. I closed my eyes and tried to forget the memories of the teen with white hair and remember those of the girl that he had taken away from me. I opened my eyes and saw my reflection in the small pool of tears that I had created on the grave. I saw the scar that marked my face and I knew that I would remember both. 


	5. Betrayal

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own Final Fantasy 8 or any references I have made towards it in this story. The parts of it that aren't owned by square enix however, are all mine. If you're going to use it or anything (which I doubt anyone will) at least get my permission first.  
  
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A/N: Hi all. I bet you all thought I was finished? I would like to apologise now for the absolutely shocking update rate. It's been a couple of rough months and my school work has finally caught up to me. Anyways, here is my next chapter and if I'm not mistaken this marks the half way point of my fic. I should answer all questions in this chap and I hope you enjoy. Again I apologise.  
  
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My life was empty. For four years my mind had been hell-bent on revenge and now that I had it, there was nothing for me. The only thing I had left was a spur of the moment oath to change Balamb Garden. I had thought about this briefly but I had no idea how to start. And so I didn't. For a couple of days I did whatever I could to pass the time, but with no drive behind me, I was bored. For the first time I could remember, I had no longings or needs to fulfill. No Josie to beat. No Leon to chase. Only emptiness. I began to realize just how isolated I was to the rest of the garden. I was different to others of my age; I had given up my youth for power. It was pointless to go back now, I had to find my own path to travel. So I went to see Illion, or rather, Illion came to see me. He found me during an attempted training session. Seeing me half-heartedly swinging my gunblade he called me over.  
  
"Your blade. It has changed." he said, obviously wanting an explanation.  
  
"Yes. It happened when I was fighting Leon." I said not having any to give.  
  
"Care to be a bit more specific?" he replied.  
  
"Not really." I said curtly.  
  
"What did you notice when it happened?" he pushed.  
  
"Not much, I had more important things to worry about. Like staying alive for one." I answered, sarcastically.   
  
"This is serious. Tell me everything you remember. Analyze the situation." I sighed as I tried to recall anything of importance.  
  
"It was before we had started to fight. Leon was saying something about the SEEDs that he killed." I paused for a moment. "The more he mocked them, the angrier I got. Eventually I couldn't hold it down any more. That's when it happened."  
  
"And what did it feel like?"  
  
"Well it felt sort of warm in my hands..." I began, confused with the question.  
  
"No, what did you feel?  
  
"I don't know. It might have been a coincidence but it sort of felt like I was given an extra boost. Like an adrenaline rush or something."   
  
"Go on."  
  
"It... it was like I had the strength and speed to match the intensity of my anger. Only..." I trailed off.  
  
"Only what?"  
  
"Only, it was weird. I started getting these surges of ... something. I don't really know how to explain it but ... I kind of wanted to make Leon suffer. I wanted to see him in pain." I said, confused.  
  
"We will talk about this further, another day." Illion replied looking somewhat worried. "So what do you plan to do now?" he asked gesturing for us to sit.  
  
"I have no idea." I answered.  
  
"Well then what don't you want to do?" he said. I sighed at the abstract question.  
  
"Everything that I have been doing for the past four years. What do you think I should do?" I asked.  
  
"You have gone on a quest for power and you have achieved that. You should now go on a quest for knowledge. Become more...more educated, for lack of better words." He said rather quickly. "It is said that knowledge is the greatest power a person can possess. If you seek to better yourself, that is the way to do it." The way he said this made me think that no matter what answers I gave to his questions, he would have ended up saying this anyway. I nodded slightly, suddenly thinking of something.  
  
"OK, but I have another idea too. Do you remember telling me that you might be able to teach me how you always seem to know where I am? Well I'd like to learn." I said. Illion seemed to think about this.   
  
"I will teach you, but I am not promising that you can learn. It is not as simple as you might think and, before you can learn it, you will need to revisit the meditation techniques that I tried to teach you years ago. Your inability to focus on anything bar confrontation with Leon kept you back before, but now you may have the clarity of mind to do what you once could not." He said slowly. For a while neither of us talked and I tried to find words to say what I knew we were both avoiding.  
  
"Leon went to Dollet to attack that SEED dispatch." I said finally.  
  
"Yes. You were right." he answered.  
  
"Do you know who it was that was feeding him information?" I asked eagerly. For a brief moment I thought that I saw a look of pain cross Illion's face. I was confused before I realized that he had worked with the six others in the council for a long time and they were all probably good friends. To think that one of them was a traitor was not something that he would want to think about.  
  
"We will begin our training tomorrow. I will meet you here in the morning." He said, as close to a farewell as I had ever gotten. I sighed before deciding that I would go to the second floor classroom and get some books so I could start my 'quest for knowledge'.  
  
"Focus down into the depths of your mind. Don't try to clear your mind, but rather, let it happen for itself." Illion said softly. It had been a month since I had started to learn. Not just the techniques that Illion had been teaching me but the true learning that I had undertook in my own dorm. I had taken Illion's advice and began to read as much I could about everything I could. My findings were astonishing. I realized that I knew close to nothing about the world and it's ways. And so I had begun to remedy that. I had read science books, society books, geography books, history books, anything that would tell me something that I didn't already know. It had become my new obsession.  
  
"Take yourself down to the very border between conciseness and unconsciousness and simply exist in that place. Allow your thoughts to pass over your mind until it becomes completely clear." My progress with Illion was slow but steady. Each day we would do the same thing, progressing a little further each time I had mastered one aspect. The intensity of the training was nothing like what it once was and we would only stay for an hour at a time.  
  
"Do not listen to my voice, do not hear it. Instead know that it exists. Feel it. Feel the effect it has on the world around it and on your mind." This was as far as I had ever been, and for the first time, I understood what it was that Illion was trying to teach me. I had taught myself the same thing. I had read a (rather large) book that said sound was little more than a wave, interpreted by the brain to have meaning. I was meant to try and interpret it a different way.  
  
"Now use your mental energy to extend this feeling, extend your net of awareness. Don't just feel my voice, but the distortions of other things as well. Feel the effect a footstep makes, feel the effect of a sword swing, a spell cast or a dagger passing silently through the air." There was nothing. I tried to focus on Illion's voice, trying to 'feel' it instead of hearing it. Still nothing. I was becoming frustrated so I relaxed myself again. Suddenly it happened. The world changed. The training room was suddenly a buzz of movement. I understood that I was 'feeling' the movement of the particles in the room. It was amazing. Everywhere there was movement. I reeled at the sheer chaos of it. But soon I began to see that it was not chaos at all. There was equilibrium. The movement was slow and steady, except for the areas around Illion and myself. I could 'feel' that we disturbed this equilibrium. Our breathing and ever so slight movements affected the flow of air around us. By using the energy of my mental reserves I extended myself beyond the boundaries of the training room. I was almost overwhelmed at what I felt. I could 'feel' particles being displaced in a thousand different ways and in a thousand different capacities. Immediately I recognized the potential. I could 'feel' things that I normally would never be able to hear or see. Only there was a problem. I didn't know what was what. The multitude of 'feelings' meant that I couldn't distinguish one from the other. As suddenly as it began, it was gone. I found that I was lying on the ground.  
  
"You've done well." Illion said as he saw me get up.  
  
"You were always going teach me this stuff weren't you." I said with a smile. "That's why you've wanted me to start learning." I thought I caught a faint smile pass across his face.  
  
"Then you understand what it was that you were experiencing?"  
  
"Yeah, I read about stuff like that two nights ago."  
  
"Yes, it is heavily linked to the knowledge that is called science and is one of the only things that suggests that magic and science are somehow alike." I nodded in understanding.  
  
"You will notice that you feel much like you have just woken up from a deep sleep. I do not personally sleep normally anymore, I find that this technique is much more beneficial. I would advise you to do the same." I nodded again as Illion continued.  
  
"The more you practice, the more able you will be to recognize the difference between one disturbance to another. Even without this knowledge this skill is still useful, but with it, it becomes priceless. Practice will also allow you to use it quickly, while standing and even while you are doing other things. What I am trying to say is, practice diligently and you will be better off for it." He said, cutting short his lecture. "And now we must move on to another issue. Tomorrow you will be given your next mission."  
  
"Oh, really." I said with interest.  
  
"Yes. You will be expected to be at the briefing room at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. You will not be dispatched for a few days yet but you have a lot to study. The others will meet you there. Until then..." he said tilting his head slightly before turning to walk away.  
  
"Remember, practice hard." Was the last thing he said before leaving the room. Glad to be finally doing something, I closed my eyes and tried to reach the place that sat on the boundary of unconsciousness.  
  
The next morning at ten past eight, I stepped off the elevator and into the waiting room of the council. For once the usual wait before every meeting was a blessing. I had spent the morning practicing Illion's techniques and had made some headway. While I still couldn't tell what was what, certain patterns were becoming known to me. What those patterns meant, however, completely eluded me. Never the less, the constant flow of everything had mesmerized me and I lost track of time. Consequently I was late and 'the others' that would be going on dispatch with me were already waiting when I got there. As I looked around the room, the only person I recognized was Joe. I hadn't seen him in years but he hadn't changed much. He did have a new rapier, but he was the same Joe.  
  
"Well well, long time no see." He said as he saw me.  
  
"Hey." I replied, trying to cut off any chance of a conversation. I glanced around the room at my comrades. There was nothing noticeable about the bunch, most were normal looking people with typical broad swords, short swords and staves, but there was one person who seemed to stand out. He had isolated himself from the group and was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. I could not see an ounce of skin, as he was dressed from head to toe in black. His face was uncovered but at the moment it was hidden by a large (black) cowboy hat. To all appearances he seemed to be sleeping. Based on the fact that he had a large rifle strapped to his back, I found that hard to believe. A couple of barely noticeable bulges under his coat told me that he had a couple of pistols to go with the rifle.   
  
"That guy is a bit of an outcast." Joe said unnecessarily. I ignored an obvious attempt to draw my attention to his new rapier.  
  
"Who is he?" I asked.  
  
"Don't know much about him, but he calls himself Thrill. If he has a real name, I don't know it. If there is a better marksman at Balamb Garden, I don't know that either." Joe replied.   
  
"A sniper?" I said frowning.  
  
"No. He doesn't need to be. Rumor has it, that if he was shot at, he could draw his rifle and fire a shot of his own before he even needed to think about dodging." I didn't buy into this particular rumor but the guy definitely had a presence about him, even if I hadn't figured out what it was yet. Our being summoned into the briefing room interrupted my thoughts. I didn't fail to notice that once again, all seven members were in attendance. In unison all eleven of us SEEDs saluted to the council. They ranged from Joe's perfect model to Thrill's wave of the hand. As always, Illion did the talking.   
  
"In five days time, you will all make up a team that will be dispatched to Shenan Hill. You will be escorting a supply vehicle to an unknown destination. There you will be dismissed from the mission and you will return to garden. This has been a regular mission for the past fifty years and is very well paid for the simplicity of the task. We were lucky that it was offered to us before Trabia or Centra Gardens. Each time it has been a different destination and course to follow. There has been a few, poorly designed and executed ambushes in the past, but these only occurred in the first few years of operation. You are all being given this briefing early so that you may study the course thoroughly." Illion stood and began walking down the line of SEEDs at attention. He stopped in front of me and handed me a folder.  
  
"You will be squad leader. The rest of you are to support your leader in any way he deems fit." Illion began. I cut him off.  
  
"I decline." I said resolutely. Illion's eyes narrowed along with the rest of the council's.  
  
"You don't have a say in the matter." Said the first member to regain their composure. "The council's will is final."  
  
"I have been offered the chance to leave garden, and I will do so." I threatened.  
  
"You would dare to..." The man started to shout.  
  
"Callember please." Illion said, turning to face the man. "I trust you will explain yourself." He said to me.  
  
"I tried leading once. Once is enough." I said briefly. He seemed to think about this and with a worried look, passed the folder to Joe.  
  
"Very well. I wish you all the best of luck. You are dismissed." He said as he handed slightly thinner folders the rest of the group and I.   
  
That night I laid in my dorm after just reading the mission specifics. I wondered if even the council knew the exact details of a mission. Everything except for the course that we would be following and our team member's details was extremely abstract. The person hiring us was unknown, as was the cargo that we would be escorting. The only name we were given was Victan Louch, whose orders we were to follow for the mission. He represented the anonymous party that we were to work for and it was very clear that he would be the main authority on this mission, not Joe, our squad leader. The mission would go for an unknown length of time, through mostly forest. I couldn't believe that the route was completely random so I studied the routes of the previous missions. Several hours later I made an interesting discovery with the help of a few recent history articles that I had read earlier. It seemed that the town nearest to the beginning of each route to date was attacked prior to ever mission. This seemed to make everything clearer. These people that we were working for, looted villages then hired us to escort what they took back out of reach of the villagers. With a sigh I decided that I should get some sleep, knowing all the while that in a matter of days, the town of Winhill would be turned upside-down.  
  
Five days later ten other SEEDs and I waited in the forest above Shenan Hill for Victan and his crew. They were an hour late. Joe had insisted that we should be standing at attention when they came so when their huge cargo truck drove into view, we were all tired and rather annoyed. This did not improve in the slightest when the truck pulled up long enough for Victan to yell at us for not being ready to go and took off again. Eager to make up for his lack in foresight, Joe quickly split the disgruntled group and ordered us to escort the truck from the front and back. We leapt to our posts and a couple of seconds later the transport I was in was speeding after the truck, trying to overtake it. Whoever was driving the truck didn't make it easy for us and it took us the better part of half an hour to take our assigned post, driving in front of the truck. After that the day passed uneventfully. Several attempts at small talk were attempted but nothing carried through. No one in my group seemed to know anyone else so they eventually gave up trying. I did learn though that Thrill would do anything short of directly ignoring someone to avoid talking. Not having anything better to do, I practiced Illion's techniques. It was difficult to concentrate but I figured that if I could do it driving at high speeds through a forest track, I could do it whenever I needed. The hours disappeared in the haze of 'feelings'. I gave up trying to interpret any of them as the vibrations made from the two transports and the truck distorted everything. Instead I used the time practicing going in and out of the state without completely immersing myself, as Illion had said I should. Just as the last light of the day was fading in the horizon we drove into a huge clearing. Without any warning what-so-ever the truck pulled up, making Joe's transport swerve to avoid it. Immediately Victan was out of the truck and shouting orders. Joe was out of his transport almost as fast and stood at attention, waiting to be told what to do. If Victan noticed him, he didn't show it. In fact for the rest of the night he didn't acknowledge SEED's presence at all. This would have been fine except we soon realized that we were not going to be fed or given anywhere to sleep. We went to see a confused Joe.  
  
"What is he doing?" said a young woman to Joe.  
  
"How am I supposed to know?" he said sarcastically.  
  
"I don't know. Ask him maybe?" she replied likewise.  
  
"Excuse me, you don't talk to your squad leader like that," at this I saw a few people stifle laughs. "and I'm sure he'll come to see us when he's got the time."  
  
"Oh, really? Do you think that will be before or after he's finished that bottle of rum, squad leader?" she said acidly.  
  
"If you don't go and see him, I will." I cut in. Joe looked shocked at the very thought.  
  
"I am quite capable, thank you." he said shortly before walking off towards the truckers camp.  
  
"What a joke." The woman said bitterly. We watched as Joe conversed shortly with Victan. It wasn't long before he walked back.  
  
"He says it wasn't on our agreement that he should provide food and beds." A couple of people laughed while another few got rather angry rather quickly. I was one of the latter.  
  
"Did you ask him if our taking food and bed by force was against the contract?" I asked sharply. Joe opened his mouth as if to answer before turning on his heel and walking back to Victan. I almost felt sorry for Joe as Victan blew up in a drunken rage. A few abusive shouts later, Joe walked back.  
  
"He seemed to think that was a given." He said slightly. A few people rolled their eyes.  
  
"Fine, we have rations in the transports and I'm sure we'll all fit in them to sleep." I murmured to a couple of uncommitted nods. Not having anything better to do, I turned back to my transport to get eleven ration packs. By the time I had returned, Joe was trying to restore lost respect by setting up a makeshift dueling arena. I drifted around and handed out the rations, leaving one on the floor for Joe. It was then that I realized that Thrill wasn't there. I looked around for a while before leaving his with Joe's. Joe had his dueling ring in operation as the woman who had challenged him before stepped in to be his first opponent. I left the group of watchers and sat down with my back against one of the transports. I took the opportunity to use Illion's technique to watch them. For a long while I still couldn't make sense of anything, but eventually I began to see repeated patterns that I then interpreted into slashes and thrusts.  
  
"When you said 'once is enough', what did you mean?" said a deep voice beside me. I jumped slightly and drew back my awareness. It was Thrill.  
  
"I'm sorry. What was that?" I asked, regaining my composure.  
  
"At our briefing you said that 'once was enough'. What did you mean?" he said briefly.  
  
"Well lets just say that my first try at squad leader didn't go so well." I answered, obviously avoiding the topic.  
  
"I guessed as much. What actually happened." He persisted.  
  
"I made a bad choice. People that shouldn't have died, died." I said, again not saying everything.  
  
"People that shouldn't die are usually the first ones to. Think about this. If you weren't there, would they still have died? Ahhh your adoring public has arrived." He said in a strange tone. I turned to find Joe standing in front of me.  
  
"I seem to be lacking in good competition. Care to cross blades with me?" he said in his cocky voice.  
  
"Actually I was talking to..." I began as I turned back to Thrill. He was gone. "OK then, lets go." I assented with one last look for Thrill. I didn't see him.  
  
We had been traveling through uninhabited forest for almost five days now and I, for one, was extremely bored. At first the lush greenery had been a nice change from the garden but this had soon worn off. The well-made track that we had started on had continued, and if Victan was to be believed, we were making good time. Victan had turned out to be exactly what my first impression of him had been, an arrogant middle-aged man who had obviously been on many of these endeavors that had not needed the use of SEED. He treated us with the amount of respect he would give to a bunch of under-worked, overpaid and over-rated individuals, as this was exactly what he thought of us. However, this indignity was almost worth it to see Joe put up with the constant disrespect. Joe's own nature clashing with Victan's was the best entertainment we had. Every night that we stopped to make camp, Joe continued with his dueling competition though he never challenged me again. I beat him soundly enough the first time. After that, Joe's attitude towards me had changed. Now he just ignored me until he could use his 'squad leader' authority over me. This suited me just fine. Thrill disappeared every night only to be ready to go again in the morning. Over the past few days I had watched my comrade's duel, and it seemed we had a rookie in our midst. He was young and inexperienced, but was a decent fighter by any rights. I had been continuing Illion's techniques and I could now do it while standing and even moving. I also learned to interpret the duels that happened every night. I could now see what was happening as if I watching it with my very own eyes. It was little after ten in the morning of fifth day of our journey and I was staring out the window thinking about what Thrill had said to me on the first night. I had been avoiding it but I decided to get it out of the way. Would those young SEEDs have died if I hadn't been chasing Leon? If I hadn't persisted, would they have still been killed? Suddenly there was a loud noise and the transport begun to swerve before stopping. Annoyed and slightly confused, I followed the rest of the SEED out of the vehicle. I looked around and suddenly was on alert. The other two vehicles had stopped also. Each one had a blow out on their back right hand tire.  
  
"Hurry up and change them!" shouted Victan.   
  
"Sir there is something strange going on here." I heard Joe say to him.  
  
"What's strange? The god damn things ran over something sharp and the tires blew out." Victan answered stupidly.  
  
"But the front tires are fine. If we ran over something, they would have..."  
  
"Will you just shut up!" Victan shouted again. "If you're looking for something to do, help us change the tires. Or is that not good enough for the esteemed SEED?" he spat. Joe looked hopelessly around. Immediately I focused and sent my net of awareness over the forest. I ignored the disturbances nearest to me and instead turned my attention to the trees. I felt the disturbance of the wind through the leaves. I spread it wider. Still nothing out of the ordinary. I was just about to give up when I felt a huge jolt, somewhat the same as a quick back step in a duel. Someone in the forest had tripped. I drew back to full consciousness and immediately drew a protect around myself.  
  
"Joe, there's something in the trees!" I shouted. A split second later ten other people shouted "Protect" and turned to the trees. Victan was furious.  
  
"What the hell do you think you are doing? Did I or did I not tell you to get working on the tires?!" he said rushing over to meet me.  
  
"Sir there is someone out there." I said quickly. "Get behind one of us or one of the vehicles..."  
  
"You slackers! There is noth..." he started before a large red hole appeared in his forehead. He fell in cloud of blood. A few more bullets hit the ground while another few hit the protects we had set up. There was a blur of movement, as Thrill drew his rifle and Victan's men rushed to get behind their truck. There was another harmless volley of shots from the trees. Thrill adjusted his aim just slightly and fired seemly blindly into the trees. There was a shout as, amazingly, he hit his mark. There was another volley and again Thrill adjusted and fired. A scream indicated another would be sniper had fallen. There was suddenly silence as we waited for another volley. There was none. Several minutes passed before suddenly a small army of shouting men burst from the tree and began running towards us, weapons drawn. Immediately we sprang to action and bunched together. Thrill's hands were a blur as he fired and reloaded over and over again all the while running to get behind the group. Each time he hit his mark. None of these ever moved again. With hands outstretched the rest of us waited for the men to close. They seemed a very rag-tag bunch and they wielded only swords and knives. I knew that what I was looking at was a makeshift Winhill militia. They had come to take back what our employers had stolen. The men closed the distance slowly. They were tired. I reminded myself that they had probably not slept so as to make up for lost time while we were sleeping. As soon as they were in range Joe gave the order and all except Thrill cast their spells. The first line of attackers fell, tripping several more as they did.   
  
"Joe these aren't soldiers, they have no organization at all." Shouted one from our group.  
  
"I don't really think that matters." He called back, grunting in exertion as he cast his next spell. I cast two more spells of my own before I drew my blade. The ragged soldiers had paid dearly in numbers already, but they still had a two-to-one advantage. However, we were SEED's. I locked eyes with the man directly in front of me. Poor guy, he had no idea what he was up against. A second later he was within reach. He was only trying to take back what was stolen from him and now he would die. I reluctantly dashed forward at the last moment, running the man through before he had a chance to swing his blade. Immediately another two took his place. They watched me warily for a moment before they attacked. Their co-ordination was poor and they had obviously never fought together before. I ducked under a sword slash and spun away from a dagger thrust, using momentum to turn and take the first man in the throat. He fell hard, clutching his bleeding neck. In a wild panic, the second threw his dagger towards me before running towards Victan's truck. He took one step before Thrill, who had drawn two elegant pistols, shot him down. I glanced around to find my next opponent and instead found one of our assailants overpowering our rookie. I watched as his attacker pull back his sword and for a second I thought I would once again have to call garden for a dispatch to pick up the body of a SEED under my care. Joe's care this time, I reminded myself. The attacker never did follow through with his swing. Instead he turned and raced almost fanatically towards Victan's vehicle. Thrill, who was now standing beside me, raised a pistol.   
  
For a second an internal conflict raced across his face before he said quietly "Well, they did attack us, after all." He fired and the running man fell as if he was tripped, only he would never get back on his feet again. I glanced around at my comrades and found that all were alive with nothing but slight wounds.   
  
"Now we need to think 'why would they attack a transport convoy in the middle of nowhere'." Said Thrill surveying the grisly scene before walking off. As the others checked for any survivors that thought raced around in my head. I knew why. But was what we had really that important that they would persist even though their sniper attempt failed? I turned this thought over in my head a few times and could come up with only one answer. The cargo that we were carrying was worth dying for.  
  
Joe was in his element. With Victan being dead, he was the highest authority and loved every minute of it. I was in loath to admit that he had done a pretty good job of getting things back on track and we were making up for lost time. I had decided that whatever it was that we were escorting, we weren't meant to know about it and so I wouldn't act. This didn't sit well and as the days passed, I found I was becoming increasingly curious. Four days later, the forest suddenly ended. Replacing it was a huge plain of sand that seemed to go on for miles. How such a lush forest could ever grow so close to this endless nothingness I could only guess at. The only thing that broke the uniformity of the sand was a small vehicle and several figures standing around. It was here that we would leave our seemingly priceless cargo. Our transports pulled up to the side of the truck as it stopped. I was about to leave my transport when Thrill grabbed my shoulder.  
  
"Find out what is in that truck. I'll keep the transport running." He said briefly before pushing me out the door. I paused slightly as I realized what it was that he had told me to do. As I walked over to the group that was just forming, I considered this.  
  
"What happened to Victan?" said a figure. As I got closer I could tell that this man was a leader. He had the air of authority that not even those in the council could rival. I also did not fail to notice the well-made broad sword strapped to his side.  
  
"Well he, errrrr, died." Joe was saying tentatively.  
  
"Died? Tell me. What exactly we are paying you people for?" said the man, his eyes narrowing angrily.  
  
"To protect the cargo convoy." Answered Joe. "But..."  
  
"Then why is one of my men dead!" he shouted. I found that I didn't like this person.  
  
"Victan's death was not our fault." I said, taking over from Joe.  
  
"Oh really? Then who's fault was it, may I ask?" he replied acidly.  
  
"Victan's death was of his own doing. He knowingly ignored our efforts to take him out of harms way and instead put his life in danger." I said formally, but cold.  
  
"Yeah that sounds like Victan alright." Said the man, his manner changing like lightning. He then took out a clipboard and began marking things off as if nothing had ever happened. He wordlessly called a private meeting with the truck drivers. I interrupted.  
  
"May I inquire about the contents of the truck?" I said, taking great pains to keep my voice as formal as I could.  
  
"No you may not." Came the brief reply.  
  
"But sir..."  
  
"No you may not." He repeated. Annoyed at being pointedly rejected, I began to consider my options. Thrill had been quite clear on what he wanted and I myself was very interested in anything that would cause a score of men to thoughtlessly attack us. I made up my mind in an instant. At the very least, Thrill's advice had proven to be too good to be ignored in the past.  
  
"Are we dismissed?" I said loudly.  
  
"What? Oh yes, yes, whatever." Answered the man, now clearly showing his annoyance at being constantly interrupted. My blade was out of its sheath in an instant. Before anyone could react, I pushed my way into the press of bodies that was his comrades and put the tip of my blade at his throat.  
  
"Now may I inquire to the contents of the truck?" I said. He calmly looked down at my scarlet blade.  
  
"I understand that you have been put under stressful conditions for the past few days, so I will overlook this incident. Put your admirable blade away and leave." He said slowly.  
  
"I will not. Either you will show me the contents of the truck, or I will kill you, your men, then I will look myself."  
  
"What are you saying?!" shouted Joe. "Perhaps you weren't listening when the council said that they were lucky to have this mission?"  
  
"Stay out of this Joe." I said quickly. For a moment nobody said anything. The man glared into my eyes, testing my mettle. I stared resolutely back.  
  
"You do mean what you say. Let me warn you that you have made a powerful enemy on this day, for you and for your garden. You have no idea what you are meddling in, boy." he said before motioning for his men to take position at the truck. They opened the back and stepped in. A minute later they came out, dragging behind them children, bound and gagged. Whatever I was expecting, this was not it. I could not control myself as my jaw dropped. The children ranged in age from barely walking to what looked to be about twelve. All had red around their eyes from what could not be mistaken for anything but crying. They looked like they hadn't been fed since the beginning of the journey.  
  
"What is this?" whispered in rage.  
  
"This is the cargo that you so badly wanted to see." He said so calmly, it was inhuman.  
  
"You will let these children go immediately." I said, struggling to control my anger. The man laughed.  
  
"You are a fool. So I am to let them go in the middle of nowhere? They are starving. They would die of hunger."  
  
"We will look after them." I said quickly. He laughed again.  
  
"So you have enough rations to feed a hundred starving children for the number of days it will take for you to walk to the nearest town. You will have to walk seeing as though you only have two transport vehicles." My mind wheeled.  
  
"There are a hundred of them?" I said in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, those you see are just my leverage. You see you have no choice but to release me now and leave this place." He said, once again with infuriating calmness.  
  
"Are you joking? Do you really think I would leave these children in your care? They would be killed."  
  
"Ahh, but quite to the contrary. If we wanted them dead, they would be already. And now it is time for our meeting to end." He said as he signaled to his men. In unison they drew daggers and put them to the children's throats.  
  
"Leave here now, or the children die." He said.  
  
"You won't do it. You said it yourself, you don't want the children dead." I reasoned.  
  
"Wrong. I don't want all the children dead. One or two for the sake of the mission is no major loss. Now stop stalling, leave here now."  
  
"I will not let these children die!" I shouted.  
  
"You just did" he murmured and signaled again. The first of his men slit the throat of the first child.  
  
"NO." I shouted, pressing my blade harder against his throat. "Kill another and you will die!" Again the man laughed.  
  
"Kill me and you will have lost your hostage. Kill me and my men will slit the throats of all of those children. Then they will jump into that truck with the rest of them, and kill as many of them as they can as well. How many do you think will die before your SEEDs can stop them? Thirty? Forty? More perhaps? Two at least." He said cruelly as he signaled once more. The next child had time to shout out before her throat was cut. Again my anger flared, but I knew that I had been beaten.  
  
"OK." I said softly "You win." I drew away, back to my openmouthed companions. The man smiled.  
  
"Now get back into your transports and drive back to your pitiful garden, boy. Make no mistake, we will meet again." He said calmly once more.  
  
"Oh, I hope so." I said, obediently turning back to my transport. This time at least, I was sure that had I not been there, two more people that should not have died wouldn't have.  
  
Like I had once before, I was tempted to fall into a pool of self-doubt and pity, but I had learnt from my mistake. Instead I analyzed the big picture. It didn't take me long to realise that for the last fifty years, Balamb Garden had been helping these people to kidnap children. It made me sick. I swore at myself softly as I saw how badly I had neglected my vow to change Balamb Garden, and resolved myself never to become so lax again. The trip back to garden was a solemn one, each one of us knowing exactly what we had done. I also suddenly realized that Thrill knew there was something going on. I was going to ask him about that before I remembered that he disappeared every night. He had probably used this time snooping around, gathering more information about what it was we were transporting. Again I cursed myself. I should have done the same thing, especially after the soldiers from Winhill attacked. If I had seen this earlier, who knows what might have happened? Those children might have been saved. These thoughts occupied my mind for the entire trip back to garden. The moment we reached the parking lot, we were greeted by one of the council's waiting room people.  
  
"The council wishes to hear your report immediately." He said in a tone that meant that the council already knew what it was that we would be reporting. Our dismal group followed this man to the council's waiting room where we were immediately called in. All council members were in attendance and all were unmistakably angry. Instead of Illion, it was the man he had once called Callember that spoke to us. He addressed Joe, and for the first time, I felt pity for him.  
  
"Give your report." Said Callember curtly.  
  
"The mission was successfully completed with the loss of one member of the hirers crew. We strived to prevent this loss but could not." He said in a vain attempt to avoid the rest of the details.  
  
"Perhaps you could skip to the part that you ATTACKED YOUR CLIENT!" He shouted at the last. I waited for Joe to single me out.  
  
"With all due respect they were no longer our clients. We were released from duty when we acted." He said, with a barely noticeable sideways glance at me. Callember noticed.  
  
"Ahhhh of course, it would have been you that went against the orders of the council." He said, rounding on me.  
  
"I did no such thing. As Joe has already said we were released from duty when I made my stand." I said, resolutely. "I would also like to say that it was my actions and my actions along that determined this. The rest of the dispatch had nothing to do with it."  
  
"Nothing? Did they try to stop you?" he said.  
  
"You know they could not, sir." I said coldly.  
  
"Very well, everyone else is dismissed." He said, never taking his eyes off me. The others left with the exception of Thrill.  
  
"I too have played my part in this." He said to the questioning stare of the rest of the council.  
  
"Oh, and what part is that?"  
  
"I encouraged him to find out the contents of the truck." Callember thought for a moment.  
  
"Very well, you will both be punished."  
  
"What for?" I asked loudly.  
  
"For losing us a very well paid mission that we have held for the last fifty years!" Callember shouted once more. I snapped.  
  
"Do you have any idea of what it is they were transporting?! Children! Kids barely old enough to walk. They took them away from their parents and love ones to use for their own sick purposes!" I looked at Illion, begging him to support me. There was barely any emotion in his eyes as he stared blankly back at me. This more than anything else shocked me.  
  
"Do you think that we did not know that?!" Callember shouted back. For a second I didn't understand what his words meant.  
  
"Do you mean to tell me, that the council has been accepting this mission, knowing exactly what it was we were guarding?" I said in disbelief.  
  
"We never accept a mission without the full details." He said back coldly. I was stunned. For a moment my mind reeled. I would have never considered this. That the council had knowingly supported this mission ... it made me sick.  
  
"I refuse to be a part of this anymore!" I shouted, turning and storming out of the room, followed closely by Thrill. We both ignored the shouts of our superiors behind us.  
  
The next morning I waited in the training room at the time that Illion would arrive for our training. I could not concentrate, I could only see the blank stares of the council members as they admitted knowingly sending SEEDs to help kidnap children. I stared at the doorway, as if daring Illion to walk through. To my great surprise, he did. He faltered only slightly at the look on my face as he crossed the room to stand next to me.  
  
"So, you will leave garden?" he said, customarily cutting straight to the major issue.  
  
"No." I said quickly.  
  
"What do you hope to achieve by staying?" he asked slightly confused.  
  
"The betterment of Balamb Garden." I said narrowing my eyes.   
  
"How do you plan to do that?" he asked, without a change in tone.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Why do you think it needs changing." He said calmly.  
  
"Why...why do I think it needs changing?! Why do you think?!" I said, enraged at the very thought of the question.  
  
"What you don't seem to understand, is that this is what being a mercenary is all about. If all jobs were simple and pretty, no one would need us."  
  
"No. People will always need other people to do their fighting for them." I said bitterly.  
  
"Very well. What do you suppose garden should be like?"  
  
"We should be held to a higher standard. We should be the ones deciding who it is we should fight for, not the people who send in requests."  
  
"Who is to decide the standard that missions should be held to? That is what the council..."  
  
"Oh, the council. Perhaps you have forgotten that at least one of the council was telling Leon when and where to butcher our dispatches!" I said, becoming annoyed at Illion's complete disregard of the obvious. Illion was silent and so I pressed my point.  
  
"The council is corrupt, you have to have realized this by now, you have to have seen that they will stop at nothing for money. SEEDs are sent away on missions that they want no part in, or they are given so little details, they don't know if they want a part in." Still he was silent.  
  
"It has to change Illion." I said in a last attempt to make him see it my way.  
  
"Yes it does." He said softly. "You are right of course. I have noticed this quite some time ago and I have begun on a method to fix this problem."  
  
"Really? What is it?" I said, quite surprised. For a long while Illion didn't answer and instead stared into space, as if trying to remember something he had forgotten.  
  
"You may just find out soon enough." He said softly before turning and walking away.  
  
I tried to find refuge from my thoughts in the depths of Illion's techniques. I cast my net of awareness over the garden and simply 'felt' the bustle of everyday life. All the while I could not escape the fact that I was powerless to seriously act against the council. Conflicting with my vow to change Garden was the oath I had taken when I had first become a SEED, that so long as I was a member of garden, I would accept the council as the ultimate authority. I knew that the council would never accept change and so must be stripped of their positions. How to do this, however, completely eluded me. For a long while I let myself go, simply 'feeling' the footsteps of the people who were my comrades. I could recognize the pattern of voices, though not yet what these voices were saying. The endless hum of movement helped to drown out my thoughts and worries. Even so, I knew that they would not go away. I knew that it was because of these people that I must do something quickly. I had been on only one sickening mission and I already felt as though I could not go on another. I could not imagine being like Taen and others like her, constantly sent out on mission that required them to shelve the morals and instead hold their mission in the highest priority. I simply could not. I drew back my net of awareness and found that it was already quite late. I resolved myself that the next morning, I would wait in this training room until Illion arrived, and I would make him tell me his plan. I would no longer stand by idle and wait for things to fix themselves. Satisfied that I had finally taken a step in the right direction I left the training room and made my way to my dorm for what should have been a peaceful rest.  
  
I could not rest. As Illion had once suggested, I now did not sleep as such, but instead used his techniques. Although I didn't sleep, there was a point in this method that I could get to where the constant flow of the night would lull me into rest and by the next day, I was as rested as I had ever been. This night, that point would not come. The flow of the night that had so often allowed me to drift off, instead reminded me of the unrest that I was feeling inside my own mind. I allowed myself to be consumed in the steady flow of air around my room but always my mind was fully alert. Perhaps this saved my life, for at that moment I felt a slow displacement of air at the doorway. It was so slight that I could have been only a breeze but my alert mind picked it up immediately. This displacement moved closer, closer again and I fleetingly wondered if perhaps I had left a window open. Suddenly there was a large crash, or so it seemed to me in my state. Something had hit the ground quite hard. Immediately I was concentrating. Now that I knew something was there, I could feel it. A person moved so silently towards my bed that I would have never noticed on any other night. I remained perfectly still as I 'felt' them come closer. They moved methodically, even fluidly, as they moved to the side of my bed. I felt the slight displacement of air as they raised their hand. There was a sudden rush as they brought it crashing down. Before the dagger could pierce my heart, I rolled off my bed and jumped to my feet. Another displacement through the air told me that a dagger was thrown. I quickly raised a protect and it bounced off. I heard a feminine voice whisper "dispel", and my protect shattered. I felt more daggers, thrown so quickly and accurately, that I would have still been alive as one pierced my forehead, another my throat, and the last my heart. Again Illion's technique save me and I dropped quickly. My assailant moved slowly towards me, sticking to the shadows, not quite sure if she had killed me yet. I waited, again perfectly still for her to close, before I leapt at her. Using a move that I had learnt from Taen, I pinned both her arms with one of mine, and both her legs to the wall. As I not too shyly searched my assailants body for more daggers I made a mental note to thank Taen. I was immediately given that chance. With my attacker disarmed, I let her loose and darted quickly for my gunblade, and then for the lights. Taen stood out like a sore thumb, her black clothing contrasting against my white walls.  
  
"Taen?" I whispered in disbelief. With hands that were visibly trembling she removed her mask. It surprised me even more to see her crying. I realized it must have been a tear that had hit the ground earlier.  
  
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to but they made me." She said shaking with sadness.  
  
"By they you mean the council?" I asked stupidly.  
  
"Yes! Of course! Who else would I possibly kill you for? They briefed me an hour ago." She said somewhat angry.  
  
"This is important. How many council members were there." I said hurriedly.  
  
"I don't know, they had the lights out. I didn't recognize the voice of the person who talked. I'm sorry, that's all I remember." She said and I was convinced that she was truly upset.  
  
"Do you have to report back?" I asked, suddenly thinking of something.  
  
"Yes. What do you have in mind?" she asked curiously.  
  
"I would like to tell you, but what you don't know, can't be forced from you." I said apologetically.  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
"How many people do you think you can get to support me in removing the council by tomorrow." I said, making a quick decision. A light seemed to brighten in her eyes.  
  
"As many as you could ever hope for." She said resolutely.  
  
"Ok, do that when you are finished reporting."  
  
"What should I report?"  
  
"That your mission was successful." I answered with a grin.  
  
"You know before tonight I would have sworn that I could assassinate anyone, anywhere, at any time. I've never been so happy to admit I was wrong, but you're going to have to tell me how you knew I was there." She said with a slight smile.  
  
"If I live through the next few days, I will." I said quickly before gesturing for her to lead the way.  
  
I had doubted, at first, that I would ever need the training that Taen had given me years before, but I could have never done what I did that night, without it. I knew that there was only one person I could turn to and that person was Illion. In the back of my mind, I knew that there was the possibility that he could have been involved in the assassination attempt, but I had no other choice. However there was also the unlikeness of my getting into the council's chambers to deal with. A walked through the darkened hallways, following Taen but sticking to the shadows against the small possibility of someone was still awake. I paused as Taen waited for the elevator. The moment the doors opened I darted though. Knowing that we had barely seconds Taen quickly took a dagger and, with the hilt smashed the lights. I, meanwhile, leapt to the roof and pinned myself into the darkness. Before I was completely in position, the doors opened. The two attendants were waiting and escorted Taen from the lift.  
  
"What happened to the lights?" one asked. Taen ignored him and kept walking. The man was forced to follow. I slipped down quietly and trailed them, hiding behind assorted chairs along the way. They led Taen to the giant wooden doors. One turned off the lights lest she see who was in the next room. They opened the giant wooden doors to the council room. Soundlessly I ran after Taen as she entered. She made sure that she left ample room for both of us as she stepped through. The moment I slipped into the room, I skirted the walls and crept slowly around the council's desk. I stopped briefly to engage Illion's technique. I found that besides Taen and myself, there were three others in the room. Not enough for a binding decision.   
  
"Was your mission successful?" said a voice so deep that I was sure it was not natural.  
  
"Yes." Answered Taen, letting her voice falter convincingly.  
  
"Then you are dismissed. Rest assured that you have just ensured the stability of this garden as you know it." Taen saluted one last time before exiting. Now afraid that they would turn the lights on, I crept around a corner that I had just found. It unfortunately led to a large, well-lit, corridor that had several doors leading off it. I ran to the first and read the plaque. "Callember Tulin." I suddenly realized that these must be the council's quarters. Horrified at what might happen should the three members that were in the briefing room decide to retire, I ran to the next. "Carline Frachese." I moved on again and found what I had been looking for. "Illion Caraway." Silently I slipped through the door.  
  
I had not had a chance to close it before a pair of strong hands grabbed me.  
  
"Empty your reserves." Said Illion frantically.  
  
"Illion? But why?" I said slightly confused.  
  
"Do it!" he replied in a forceful whisper. I did so, knowing better then to disregard what Illion obviously thought was a threat. The moment I did, Illion let me go and closed the door.  
  
"Your mental reserve limit is unique. Using my own technique, it is possible to find someone by looking for their metal reserves. That is how I always know where you are. Just like I did now. Now what are you doing here?" he said angrily. "I could have come to see you tomorrow morning."  
  
"Yes you could have, but I would have been in a coffin." I said annoyed that he obviously thought I had risked being found in the council's rooms for a petty reason.  
  
"What are you talking about, boy?" he said roughly.  
  
"Fifteen minutes ago, Taen tried to kill me." I said as calmly as I could. This obviously was not what Illion was expecting.  
  
"But why?" Illion said with a frown.  
  
"Because three members of the council ordered her to." I replied.  
  
"But three members cannot assign a mission." He said, frowning deeper.  
  
"She did not know that there was only three members. They had the lights off so that they couldn't be identified."  
  
"Then how do you know that there were three members?"  
  
"I used Taen to get in. When she went to report back, I slipped past. I used your techniques and found that there was three of them." I said quickly.   
  
"Well what have you come here to see me for?" said Illion, for some reason trying to palm me off.   
  
"Don't play innocent with me. The only reason that I am here now is because I followed your advice and used your technique instead of sleeping. That means that you had some sort of inkling that I would need it." Illion sighed heavily.  
  
"I was afraid that this would happen." He said quietly. He motioned for me to follow him and we made our way to a table and chairs.  
  
"Sit, please. There is a lot we must go through tonight." He said, almost dismally. I did so and waited for Illion to start.  
  
"Do you know why it is that some in the council wish for you to be dead?" he asked finally.  
  
"Because I will no longer follow them?" I asked back.  
  
"No. It is more than that. They fear you, or more so, they fear what you may become." He said quickly. Again he took a long pause.  
  
"I knew this day would come, but I wish it would not have been this early. I wanted you to become more capable before I thrust this on you."  
  
"What are you talking about?" I said, frustrated at the pace of the conversation. Illion sighed once more.  
  
"We council members have taken oaths, an oath that above all, requires that we do whatever it takes to ensure the continuation of this garden. Second, is to ensure the safety and well being of the garden's occupants. It is this that I attribute to the council's decline. We began with many honorable ambitions and for a long while, Balamb garden thrived both financially and morally. However, over time I began to notice a difference in our thinking. So gradually that it passed unnoticed, our morals began to fade away under the need of more money, which we would account to continuing the future of garden. And now we are as we are today. We will accept any mission with any consequences if it means that the garden will be better off for it." He said this slowly and I could tell that he was truly sorry that this was so.  
  
"However we are getting old and we know that our reign will not be eternal. And so we began looking for one, or many that could succeed us and lead garden. It is you that we have found for that purpose."  
  
"Me? But..." I began, quite shocked.  
  
"Please let me finish." Illion continued. "We chose you for our new leader and we would have made you both wise and strong. However recently there has been a rift in the council. Some are beginning to wonder if we have made the correct choice. Your talk of cutting back on the dishonorable missions, which are often the best paid ones, have got some thinking that perhaps making you leader of this garden might not be ensuring its future. Even more recently, some have started thinking that even keeping you alive might endanger the safety of this garden."  
  
"But how could I?" I asked, thoroughly confused.  
  
"You are powerful, even more so than any of those in the council. More importantly, you are respected. Where you lead, others will follow." I began to say that I doubted this, but I remembered the flash of light in Taen's eyes. She seemed delighted at the mention of my removing the council.  
  
"This is what many in the council fears. They fear that you will lead a rebellion against them."  
  
"Illion, that is exactly what I mean to do." I said honestly.  
  
"Yes I know. This is what I have been urging you towards for many years now." He said reluctantly.  
  
"What does that mean?" I said apprehensively.  
  
"I have come to the part of the story that I wish I had forgotten, though it is the part that I am least likely to ever forget." He said this slowly and took a long pause while he gathered his thoughts. "As I have already mentioned, the council was becoming corrupt, and although I could see it happening, I could not stop it for I was changing also. I realized, much as you have, that things must change. That is why I have played such a big role in your life. I was the one who would shape your morals. It started when I searched you at the sign up to your first tournament."  
  
"Searched?" I said curiously.  
  
"Yes. That is when I placed my hands beside your head. This can give me an impression of the person. I do not actually get any information, but I get feelings. In you and your young friend Josie, I sensed unbridled potential. However I also sensed that this potential would never be more then that in your current state. What you needed was a push in the right direction." Said Illion carefully. He paused while he waited for me to catch up.  
  
"Push? Illion what p...?" I began. Suddenly I realized. A chill ran through my body and tears began to prickle the corners of my eyes. I couldn't believe it.   
  
"Josie. Josie was my push." I whispered in shock.  
  
"Yes. That day I knew that it was either you or Josie that would lead our garden. In that moment I created a plan that would shape one of you into the perfect leader. You see in the council there is no consideration of human feelings. That is how we have become corrupt. We simply do not know the sting of betrayal. We do not know what it is like to be made to do something that makes us sick, we do not know the effect that our meddling has on a person. And so I decided that garden's next leader would know that feeling all to well."   
  
"No. No. Please tell me this is a joke Illion." I said, feeling rage beginning to rise.  
  
"This is no joke. I think that you may have understood a little of what we in the council did, but I fear that there is much more that you don't. We made sure that the two of you could beat all the others that entered the tournament so many years ago. That is why there were so little participants."  
  
"No." I said in disbelief.  
  
"You don't believe it? Tell me, had the mage you fought in the second round used a different spell, a fira, or a blizzara, how would you have stopped it? I admit it was presumptuous of us to think that you would do what you did, but we were right in the end. We let Leon in with the purpose of him killing whichever of you got into the finals. You see without this, you would have never had the drive to progress so far in your training. We paid him to continue to harass you. The council knowingly sacrificed many young SEEDs to make sure that you never lost your passion, that you would never stop to think about the big picture.  
  
"NO! You couldn't do that, you swore an oath against it!" I argued.   
  
"But see, we were acting for what we thought was the continuation of garden. We were creating the next leader of SEED. Think about this. So what if Leon attacked one of the elite guarded missions? You were already the strongest SEED we had, and he was as strong as you, he would have certainly been powerful enough to take out the elite. But you see we couldn't sacrifice so many of our experienced SEEDs."  
  
"No. But Leon died. Why would he accept a mission if he was going to die." I said, my last desperate attempt to prove him wrong.  
  
"That is where we made a mistake. We had him constantly harassing you, so you would never look at the big picture and realize all the things that I have told you today. If you did you would have seen that there was no real reason for Leon to be butchering our dispatches. However you did pick up that the council was giving him orders and you set a trap. This was an unexpected bonus. We allowed you to kill Leon, as it would mean that we would no longer have to pay him." My mind raced and I knew that all he had told me was true. in hindsight I could not believe that I had been so naive. I should have seen it. The signs were there. Once again my judgment had been clouded by my rage. Leon, he had known. What had he said?   
  
"I bet the council is very pleased with your progress." He had told me the first time we fought.  
  
"The mage wouldn't have told you this. You must have done it all by yourself." The second time. How could I have failed to see the truth? Why hadn't I seen that Leon had no reason to attack our dispatches? Our first fight. I had leapt out of the window. He could have followed me. He could have killed me. But he was never meant to. I could not stop the tears that ran continuously down my face. I could not stop that rage that once again began to consume me. Slowly I stood and drew my blade.  
  
"So Leon was only a pawn in Josie's death." I said, with ragged breath.  
  
"Yes. Yet I feel that there is more responsibility that I must accept. The rest of the council only knew half of my motives. They would not have approved of making you morally correct. Therefore, I must accept alone the consequences of your pain. It was I alone that pushed you hard after Josie had died, to make sure that you would not stop and waste your grief. To make sure that it progressed to rage. It is I alone that let you fail in your undertaking to chase Leon, so that you would know the consequences of bad judgment. It is I who must accept responsibility for sending you on your last mission, so that you would never send another on a mission so terrible. And finally, it is I myself who must take responsibility for telling you all this, so you would know the sting of betrayal, and decide never to make another person feel the way you are feeling now." Said Illion calmly. It all sounded so simple, so thought out. I could not doubt that his methods had worked to their effect. I had become everything that he had wanted me to. My life was not my own but a result of the manipulation of the council and especially Illion. Rage raced through my being and my blade once again began to glow. I drew it back and slashed at his throat. I stopped a hairbreadth away, self control winning at the last.  
  
"You deserve to die." I said, my voice shaking horribly.  
  
"Yes I do." He replied, again calm. A war once again raged inside. I had more reason to kill this man then I ever did for Leon. Why was I hesitating? My logic came up with an answer. Illion was calm, ready to accept whatever I did to him. He knew that he deserved whatever he got. He knew that all he had done was wrong. This was worth keeping, I convinced my anger.  
  
"I will never forget this." I said, my voice trembling.  
  
"Nor will I." Answered Illion remorsefully.   
  
"Will you help me?" I asked him at last, my blade losing its glow.  
  
"With my last dying breath." He replied. I reluctantly sheathed my blade and sat down once again. There I stayed with Illion for most of the night, planning what we would do on the next day.  
  
With the help of Illion I made it back out of the council room and found Taen, who was surprisingly alone. I woke her quietly and told her our not so subtle plan. She agreed to her part and dressed quickly. Knowing that I would have not much to do until the majority of the garden awoke, I left to take my assigned position in the assembly hall, that I had once been briefed by Illion and Joe for the tournament many years before. On the stage I sat and waited. Using Illion's technique, I felt the gradual awakening and movement of people in the garden. I was bitter and hurt. Why was I doing this? Why did I care what happened to the garden that had betrayed me? Because it wasn't the garden, only the council. The council betrayed you and now at last you will have your true vengeance. This thought comforted me. It was eight o'clock before I felt the first group of many enter the hall. I smiled. Taen was already making good progress. It was her job to spread the word among the members of the garden. The word was rebellion. The plan that Illion and I had formed was brilliant in its simplicity. We would use the council's own exclusion from the rest of the garden to our advantage. By the time that they would realize something was happening, we would have numbers. The brilliance was they would soon be able to do nothing to stop us. Each person that entered the hall makes it less and less likely that they would kill me in plain sight. Each person that entered the hall was one more soldier that would fight for us should the need arise. Each person that entered the hall was loyal to my cause. Slowly the time passed by. First there were only five people, then nine, then twelve. More and more entered. Twenty, fifty then a hundred. Along with this last lot was Thrill. He joined me on the stage.  
  
"Taen said to start. She will send more people as you go." He said in his curt manner. I nodded and began my part. Nervously, I stood slowly and raised my hand to bring silence. It was only when people turned and looked to me did I truly believe that Illion was right, that people would listen to me.  
  
"Welcome members of Balamb Garden." I began, talking as loudly as I could. "As most of you will already know I am here to start a new chapter in this garden's book. It is time that we cast away the tyranny of the council and start living the way we want to." I was talking nonsense, I thought with a smile. There was silence. Inwardly I frowned. Was this a good thing?  
  
"You may ask why it is that I am up here today, and why not yesterday, or tomorrow. The reason is that last night, another member of this garden was ordered by the council to kill me." At this there were shocked looks and even a few gasps. This was more like it.  
  
"You see I no longer have a choice. I can either roll over and die, or I can come out and speak against the council, as running and hiding has never been my style." I said, as Illion suggested I should.  
  
"Those of you that are here today must agree with me, you must know that Balamb Garden must be changed. The council has become corrupt. They have become uncaring for anything except for money and power. This must be stopped." I continued.  
  
"Who here has ever been on a mission that they wish they hadn't?" I asked loudly, knowing that this was the moment of truth. If I was ignored here, I would lose them. For a long while there was nothing. No shouts, no hands in the air. Nothing. For a moment my heart was held in limbo. As a looked around the room, there was nothing but silence. No whispers, no shouts. Nothing.  
  
"I have!" Came a shout from the back of the room. I could not see who it was. I saw the crowd part as they let that person through. I was shocked at who it was. I thought it would be Taen, maybe even Thrill. Instead it was Joe. For the first time in my life, Joe's need to be the centre of attention caused me to sigh in relief. Joe gleefully took to the stage and began.  
  
"Just a couple of days ago, I came back from escorting a supply vehicle. Of course what was in that vehicle was unknown. But we found out, my comrades and I. It was children. A hundred children bound and gagged. We resisted giving them up, and so they killed two of them. Do you know what happened when we got back to garden? We were punished!" he ended up shouting. I was so happy at the angry reaction that I forgave him for saying 'we'.  
  
"That's nothing!" came another voice. The crowd parted again for a man that I didn't know. He to came up to the stage and told his story to the crowd. Those in the hall began to whisper furiously. After that came a woman, followed by another man. More and more people came to the stage, each with a tale more sickening than the rest. Each time the reaction of the crowd was stronger, each story made them angrier. I slinked to the back of the stage and watched the arrival of more people. Within ten minutes I had lost track of the people who had entered and could not even find Thrill in the press of bodies. I didn't even know if Taen had arrived yet. With every new arrival my heart leapt with joy. We were going to do it! Within five more minutes the hall was a buzz of excited talk. It seemed that almost everyone had a story to tell. I could practically feel the anger in the room. Suddenly there was quiet in the back of the hall. It progressed its way up as those in front stopped to find the interruption. The crowd parted and made way for seven solitary figures. The council had arrived.  
  
Joe and the others on the stage leapt down so fast, it was mind numbing, and I made my way to the middle. Three members of the council, including Callember, seemed surprised to see me. I didn't need to wonder why. In a line they walked until they reached the stage. They halted in front of me.  
  
"We are here to relieve you of your position of SEED in Balamb Garden." Said Callember formally.  
  
"I think you are mistaken. It is I who am here to relieve you of your position." I answered, not giving up the centre of the stage.   
  
"You and what army?" He replied with a cruel smile. I moved, pushing my way through their line.   
  
"With this army!" I shouted, looking not at them but at the others in the hall. Only silence met my call. Callember laughed.  
  
"All of these are under oath, to respect us as their authority. They are not so dishonorable as to break that oath." He said with a smile. I smiled back.  
  
"No. The oath has already been broken. Those in the council swore an oath once, to protect those at Balamb Garden." I said. Illion and I had prepared against this.   
  
"Who here was given a mission in the time that the one called Leon was ravaging our dispatches?" I shouted to the hall. Every last person raised their hands.  
  
"You have broken your oath to these people. Their oath to you is now void." I shouted again, never facing the council. Illion had told me how important it was to be seen as the central figure.   
  
"Even so, who would want to fight against the very organization that stops this garden from plunging into ruins." I breathed heavily for a moment. This is what it all came down to.  
  
"Who will fight?" I shouted one last time. The silence was deathly. Every person looked to the one next to them, to see if they had raised their hand. The crowd that was so riled up just moments before was now quiet.  
  
"You seem to be lacking an army." Said Callember with a laugh. A moment later there came a shout from the back of the hall.  
  
"I will fight!" shouted Taen. Again the crowd made way as she lead a small group of people towards the stage. Seeing them, many more jumped in and it wasn't long before this group could no longer be distinguishable from the rest of the crowd.  
  
"No. They're just a little late." I said, turning to the council at last. I saw that all except Illion had blanched. Loud enough for all to hear, I shouted, "Callember Tulin, I challenge you for your position..." Illion cut me off.  
  
"No. It is I who must do this." He said, stepping forward to stand next to me. There was an audible gasp from the crowd. Inwardly I smiled. Illion had just sealed the fate of the council. He had just admitted that they were worth fighting against.  
  
"But Illion..."  
  
"No. I will not stand by idle while the fate of this garden is decided. I intend to fulfill the only oath I still have left at this point." He said grimly. Callember smiled.  
  
"Very well Illion Caraway. I accept." He said quietly. Without a word, those in the hall were emptied until only those who dared remained. The next time I looked, Taen and Thrill had come to stand beside me. The only other watchers were those of the council. Illion and Callember made their way to the centre of the hall. They faced each other and took ten steps backwards. Not once did one's eyes move from the other's.   
  
For a moment they just stood and watched each other. Suddenly the fight began. In unison they drew staves. I could feel the inward pull of energies as they began their assaults. Together they shaped their spells.  
  
"Fira!" shouted Callember, casting a ball of intense heat.  
  
"Bizzara!" shouted Illion, casting a ball of intense cold. The spells clashed in and disappeared in an explosion of steam and heated water. Already the mages had begun their next spells. Lightening lanced from the tip of Illions staff to his hands as he began he prepared to cast his next spell.  
  
"Thundara!" he shouted as he completed it. Callember stood motionless until the last moment.  
  
"Refect!" he called back as a green barrier absorbed Illion's spell before firing it back. Illion rolled away to avoid it.  
  
"You are a traitor Illion." Called Callember, foolishly trying to distract his opponent.  
  
"Yes, but not to the council." Answered Illion as he cast another blizzara spell. This time Callember leapt to avoid. Suddenly there was a flash of movement to my side. I turned quickly to find Taen struggling with a woman from the council that had just tried to slash her throat. In an instant Thrill and I drew our weapons as the council drew theirs. Thrill fired his pistol at the woman who was forced to disengage with Taen to cast a protect. Another man stepped to the woman's side with a very well made broad sword. Behind them stood two more mages.  
  
"Taen, Thrill, we can't fight them here." I shouted and leapt from the stage. A fire spell flew over my head as I did. Taen leapt a second later followed by Thrill who was firing backwards to cover our backs. Callember turned to find himself between Illion and us. He cast one more quick spell at Illion before running frantically to the side, making sure that he would not be flanked. Taen, Thrill and I dropped back to join with a tired Illion.  
  
"What happened." He said quickly.  
  
"They attacked me while I was watching." Taen replied.  
  
"They out-number us." Said Thrill unnecessarily. "And Taen and I skill's are not particularly useful in this circumstance."  
  
"Should we get re-enforcement's?" asked Taen turning towards the exit.  
  
"No." Said Illion and I together  
  
"This is now a battle of honour. Others have no place here. If we fail, then others can take up our cause if they wish." Illion explained.  
  
"I can take the two warriors if you can all take a mage or so each." I said quickly, seeing that the council had begun to organize themselves.  
  
"I'm not sure if you can." Replied Illion.  
  
"Don't worry, I can. These are the people who killed Josie." I murmmered, allowing the rage of last night wash over me. My blade once again began to glow as I felt the peculiar feeling of power that I had felt when I fought Leon. With a shout of rage I ran at the council. I felt a bullet whiz past my ear and a spell pass my side as I rushed to engage the two warriors in the council. This was nothing compared to the ringing of anger in my ears. The woman had sheathed the dagger that she had attacked Taen with and had now drew a wicked looking curved sword. I saw the flash of bullet meeting a protect and a spell hitting a shell as I engaged the two fighters. The mages had obviously seen what I was doing and had fallen back. With a cry of rage I slashed my blood red blade at the woman's throat. She parried and I almost received a broad sword in my ribs for my efforts. I backed off and watched them. They were obviously experienced in fighting together. Slowly they began to edge their way around, so that I would always be left with one behind me. I attacked the man, slashing at his stomach before changing the direction of my blade. Instead I brought it backwards, where I guessed the woman would be by now. It turned out to be a good guess, but she was quick and parried. Again a broadsword in the side almost killed me. I backed up again, looking for a wall to fight from. I noticed that they had cut off my way to the nearest ones so expertly that I hadn't seen it happening. Again they began to flank me, and I was forced to turn side on to watch them both. The first struck out at me and I parried. I had barely done so when the other attacked from behind. Reflexes allowed me to dodge this one but as the woman struck out again, the curved blade grazed my side. Knowing that another attack would finish me I drew on my mental reserve and fired spell at each of them, forcing them to halt their alternate attacks. I was trapped like an injured animal, and I could not think of anything that could help me. Again the two warriors of the council began to close for their attacks. I spun, trying to find something to unleash my rage onto.  
  
"Catch!" I heard Taen shout. Again I spun and found that a long dagger had been thrown at me. Quickly I drew energy and cast a slow spell. The dagger obediently slowed down and I grabbed the hilt quickly. The two warriors used this distraction to their benefit and they attacked me again. Now I could do something about it. The blood that slowly seeped from my injury did nothing but fuel my rage as I fanatically parried blow after blow. Finding that their alternate attacks were no longer working the two warriors used their superior numbers to push me back. Slowly they began to edge me backwards as they both attacked head on. Knowing that I could not keep up the pace forever I leapt backward and sheathed my blades. Using all my focus and most of my metal energies I drew energy.  
  
"Firaga!" I shouted as a wave of intense heat exploded from my palms. I raced after it. The two warriors leapt to their sides. The woman was the first to recover. She had enough time to see a flash of red as I slashed her throat. The man had not been as lucky dodging my spell and his shoulder was bright red from a burn. I ran at him. With a combination stab and swing at his heart and throat another of the council died. With no time to rest, I turned to see how my comrades were faring. Taen and Thrill were still engaged with another two mages while another laid in a bloodied mess on the floor. Illion and Callember had separated themselves and were blasting each other with spells, with seemingly endless endurance. I rushed to the aid of Thrill and Taen. Taen was engaged with one mage while the other stood back competing with Thrill. Thrill was casting dispel's every moment, trying to break through the mages protect spell. It was Taen that I reached first. The mage saw his new threat and knocked away Taen before turning to meet me. I slashed downwards as the mage brought his staff up to stop the blow. With the dagger that I still had, I stabbed the man in the stomach. He fell quickly and I saw that Taen had thrown a dagger and hit in the back of the head. I spun to Thrill, only to find that with one well placed shot, he finished his exhausted mage. I turned again, this time to Illion. I was about to join the fight when Taen grabbed my shoulder.  
  
"No, this is his fight. Would you have wanted Illion to join your fight with Leon?" She said breathlessly. A limping Thrill came to stand beside me and together we watched to two greatest mages at garden compete. Both were covered in burns but the look on their faces showed quite well that they were not ready to stop yet. They both drew energy once more.   
  
"Tornado!" shouted Callember as the hall suddenly became windswept with the power of his spell. Illion waited until the last moment before, in once fluid motion, he spun away from Callember's spell, turned and cast his own.  
  
"Quake!" he shouted and the ground began to split in a straight line towards Callember.  
  
"Float!" he countered and he began to hover slightly. Illion's spell passed harmlessly underneath. Never once did their concentration falter, as this was a battle of willpower as much as anything else.  
  
"You underestimate me Illion!" shouted Callember who once more began to focus his energy. "I have powers that you can only dream of!" Illion didn't answer. Instead he used the time to draw energy once more.   
  
"It is time we finished this old friend!" called Callember at last finishing his spell "Flare!" My eyes widened. I had never seen this spell before. Illion was suddenly bathed with a horrible red glow. The heat was so intense, I could feel it from where I stood. The light began to focus, drawing itself into one spot.   
  
"YOU FOOL!" shouted Illion "REFLECT!" The light suddenly disappeared and reappeared at Callember. It seemed it had finished focusing. There was no warning of the tremendous explosion that followed. The light and heat was so powerful I was forced to look away. I looked back to find the smoke clearing. There was Callember, still very much in one piece, standing with a bright pink shell held in front of him.   
  
"Well that could have been worse." He said smugly.   
  
"You never were one for foresight Callember. That is why you are not standing with me today." Illion answered.  
  
"No. The reason I am not standing with you today is because I still intend to make this garden great. Not hand it over to those who would destroy it" Callember replied with a glance in my direction.   
  
"You don't see it yet? We would have destroyed it. We would have left the building intact and the finance brilliant, but the garden's students would have been dead. We must restore our SEEDs once more to the glory that they deserve."   
  
"Clearly we have different idea's of glory." Callember said with a grimace. Both began to draw energy. Their eyes were locked as they concentrated fiercely. For several minutes time stood still as the two powers prepared themselves for one last encounter. In unison they cast their last spell  
  
"Thundaga!" was the simultaneous cry as the hall was bathed in the light of electrical energy. The two spells clashed and locked. With pure determination and power the two fought to gather more energy to power their spell while still keeping it intact. Electrical energy pulsed around the two. Offshoots began to spring from their spells, lancing of to the walls and leaving only charred marks. The tide suddenly tilted as Illion wavered. Callembers spell made its way slowly towards Illion whose face was contorted with the effort of sustaining his spell. Callember's spell progressed further, Illion's stopping it only metres from him. Suddenly Illion's faced turned to a smile. With expert ease he broke off his spell and spun to the side. With the energy he had gathered and not used in the previous spell, he fashioned another.  
  
"Fire!" he shouted and a small ball of flame flew across the room with mind-numbing speed. Callember never had a chance to react. He was hit head on and collapsed to the ground. Slowly Illion walked to him stopping to stand over him. He drew back his staff.  
  
"As a member of the Council Of Seven, I hereby relieve you of your position." He said quietly as he brought it crashing down, crushing Callember's throat. He stood for another moment and wavered on his feet before collapsing in exhaustion. I ran over and knelt besides him. Slowly his eyes opened.  
  
"Tomorrow morning your training will begin. I will see you in the council ... well what was the council room at ten o'clock sharp. We must decide how we will change this garden." he said before drifting off into sleep. I hadn't considered this. Now that we had control of Balamb garden, what were we to do with it?  
  
For only the second time in my life I went to the site of Josie's grave. There I stayed for the rest of the day, gathering my thoughts about what Illion and I would discuss on the next day. As the last light of the day was fading into a brilliant sunset I knew that I had given up the rest of my life for Balamb garden. I knew that I would be up to me, a sixteen-year-old boy, to lead it to honorable glory. Or at least to honorable ruins for I would never become like the last council, I could never do to someone what they did to me. I smiled at the irony. I could not be standing here today as I was had Josie not died. If Illion had not conspired for the direction of my life, the council would still be in power. Still, I could never forgive him for what he did to me. I knelt in front of Josie's grave and drew my gunblade.  
  
"I swear on the life that was taken away from you that I will never sink that low. Ever." I said as I cut my palm and allowed the blood to seep onto the small piece of cement that was the only material thing that indicated that a girl named Josie ever existed. With that I turned back to garden to sleep away the rest of my last day as a free man. 


End file.
